B.C. expands electrical device recycling

By Jake Thomas, Resource Recycling

Beginning July 1, British Columbia's electronics and appliance recycling program will expand to over 300 different types of products.

In October of last year, the Canadian province's recycling program for small appliances and other household electronics was rolled out under the name "Unplugged." The program draws its funding from fees tacked onto 120 household appliances by B.C. manufacturers and retailers. The money generated from the fees, which range from 25-cents to $10 ($Cn) each, covers the collection, transportation and recycling of the covered items, in addition to 100 drop-off locations.

The program, operated by the Canadian Electrical Stewardship Association and currently using the name "ElectroRecycle," will now accept household electrical products, such as power tools, sewing and textile machines, exercise machines as well as leisure and crafts devices (i.e. electric binoculars). In total, ElectroRecycle will accept more than 300 different types of electrical products divided into 13 categories.

"With these new product categories, ElectroRecycle will help divert even more electrical products from disposal to resource recovery," said Brock Macdonald, chief executive officer, Recycling Council of British Columbia (RCBC). "The expanded program will also help municipalities spend less on managing waste."

According to www.globaltvbc.com, this is the fifth and final phase of the province's electronics recycling program since 2007.

"We call this the cord-and-battery phase because it really does regulate everything with a cord and a battery," said Craig Wisehart, executive director of the Electronic Products Stewardship Association, according to the article. "This puts B.C. as the leader in Canada certainly in the number of products covered."

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