When you upgrade your phone or TV, don’t throw the old device into the bin. When you recycle your old phone, it might be refurbished or dismantled for recycling.
If you have old TV’s, tablets, smartphones, computers, or computer screens, you can responsibly recycle them using WM Waste Management’s e-waste disposal services.
WM Waste Management provides e-waste recycling throughout Melbourne’s south and east. Keep your old devices out of landfill waste — contact our customer service team to recycle your old TV, computers and smartphones.
Did you know that up to 95% of a broken smartphone can be recycled? A dead battery or smashed screen doesn’t mean your old device doesn’t still have value.
Electronic waste is growing much faster than any other waste category in Australia. The Federal Government’s 2011 National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS) provides options for recycling electrical devices. From 1 July 2019, it is illegal to put any electrical items into your household rubbish.
WM Waste Management has an approved e-waste recycling system that keeps the toxic components of devices out of landfill waste and ensures that non-renewable metals and other materials are recycled.
The e-waste recycling scheme includes both old and new devices. It doesn’t matter how old the computer, screen or console is, the components can still have value.
Devices collected by WM Waste Management include:
If you aren’t sure if we can accept your electronic device for recycling, get in touch with our customer service team to find out which electronic items we can collect.
When you book a rubbish collection with WM Waste Management, e-waste will need to be kept separate from other waste. For many electrical items, there is no additional charge.
When you book your e-waste collection, let the customer service staff know which electrical items you want to include.
Electronic devices like smartphones, TV’s and computers are not biodegradable, but they are recyclable.
Recycling your device ensures that non-renewable metals and materials are recovered and reused. Recycling your mobile phone or computer helps to reduce CO2 emissions and prevents harmful metals from leaching into the environment.
Before recycling your old device, save any data like music, pictures or documents you want to keep. Then you can perform a hard reset on your device to ensure none of your information remains.
Never put your old tv, tablet, mobile phone or computer into the household or office waste bins. Old electronic devices contain toxic chemicals that can leach into the groundwater and poison the surrounding areas. That’s why it’s now illegal in Victoria to bin your e-waste.
Smartphones contain metals including coltan, silver, gold, copper, lithium, aluminium, lead and cadmium. These metals are non-renewable resources, mined from specific sites around the world. Recycling your device ensures these metals are recovered and used again.
WM Waste Management partners with Sims Lifecycle Services to recycle e-waste. They’ll sort e-waste into devices still in good condition, and those that have reached the end of their life.
Newer devices in reasonable condition will be refurbished and resold. Any functioning parts from end-of-life devices are saved and reused in manufacturing or repair.
The remaining materials are de-manufactured through mechanical shredding for use as secondary raw material to manufacture new products.
The cathode ray tube is removed from old TV’s and leaded glass separated from the unleaded glass. This leaded glass goes to a smelter to recover the lead.
Circuit boards and batteries from old computers are removed for further recycling. Precious metals like gold, silver and copper are recovered from circuit boards at an overseas facility, using a heat and chemical process.
Batteries are sent to a separate facility for processing to remove the cobalt and lithium.
Plastics, steel and copper are smelted in Australia for recycling and use in new products.
Phones, tablets and computers generally contain lithium batteries. Lithium is a non-renewable resource, so the battery can be recycled and used to make new batteries.
Glass from screens is recycled. Plastic casings are recycled to create products like fence posts or garden edging. All recycled materials become the raw material for new products, including new electronic devices.
WM Waste Management is committed to ensuring that finite materials found in TVs, smartphones and computers are recovered. We sort, recycle and reuse as many components as possible to reduce the health risks and environmental impact of e-waste in Victoria.
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