ecoLIVING London

Think back to you or your family’s first television, and then think back to your first desktop computer, printer, cell phone or Walkman. Now think of how many different versions of each you've had since. Dot-matrix printers, tube televisions and dilapidated CPU towers, many people have at least one or two of these still kicking around their house collecting dust. Electronic technology, especially over the past 2 decades has advanced so much that it seems every month or so such that a new platform, version or model appears on the market. Television, to the personal computer and onto laptops, mp3 players, smart phones & tablets. These products were all invented to make our lives more enjoyable, productive and connected. However for all the good these products have brought us in business, entertainment and bringing us closer together they have also brought with them their own problems. As technology changes and the demands on these devices become more advanced the previous generations are left behind and the old, broken and deemed obsolete devices are thrown away for more current versions, creating E-Waste.

E-Waste refers to not only the shells of these devices but the circuitry and internal components of our discarded electronic equipment. These internal components contain any combination of potentially toxic substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury and chromium. If not properly processed, these internal components can leak and leach these harmful compounds into the environment where they can cause serious damage not only to the natural system but to anything which comes in contact with them by proxy, potentially causing major biological harm.

The Ontario Electronic Stewardship (OES), a recently formed not for profit organization aimed at promotion of proper E-Waste processing and recycling published their first annual report in 2009-2010 and highlighted a number of baffling statistics about E-Waste in our province. During 2009/2010 in Ontario the OES collected and diverted 17,302,667 Kg of discarded electronic equipment from landfills. This breaks down to 1.3Kg of E-Waste per person in Ontario in 2009/10. To combat this issue here in London the city has decided to no longer accept E-Waste in regular curbside garbage pickup. Concurrently with this 3 locations for E-Waste disposal are available, these 3 sites are of no charge to use and are open to all London residents and local businesses.

Household Special Waste Depot, 3502 Manning Drive 

Oxford St Community EnvDepot, 1450 Oxford Street W

Clarke Rd Community EnvDepot, 28 Clarke Road

Friends of the Coves for the month of July will be running an E-Waste collection program from our main office here in Wortley Village. We will be collecting your old, used broken and unwanted electronics and delivering them to one of the depots free of charge. If you would like to take part in this program feel free to contact our office at:

Friends of the Coves Subwatershed Inc
111 Elmwood Ave East
519 640 5397

For more information on E-Waste and where you can drop off your old equipment check out:

Ontario Electronics Stewardship
City of London Electronics Recycling

My name is Chas and I am the summer student at Friends of the Coves in Wortley Village, Old South London. Over the next 11 weeks, I will be blogging about my experiences with FOTCSI. I will be posting weekly articles on the history, community and issues related to the Coves including helpful tips and suggestions on how you can have a positive impact on your own environment.