Electrical and Electronic Waste Recycling

Electrical and electronic items such as televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, handphones, computers, printers, and batteries are increasingly being disposed as waste after use. These waste are also known as e-waste and they are posing an environmental problem as most of these waste products contain toxic chemicals and can affect the environment and our health if they are incinerated or landfilled.

In addition, there is also the problem of e-waste being dumped in developing countries and recycled in an unhealthy and pollutive manner. Watch this video on the problem of e-waste:

In Singapore, there are no official figures on the amount of e-waste generated and recycled. But Singaporeans are known to be big users of electrical and electronic products, thus we can imagine the substantial problem of e-waste here.

Let’s take a closer look at e-waste recycling:

E-Waste Recycling in Singapore

Used electrical and electronic items are sold to the karang guni men, secondhand traders and shops, or traded-in when buying the new items. The used items are refurbished and sold locally or exported overseas for reuse.

The used electrical and electronic items, and electronic scrap from industries are also sent to local e-waste recycling facilities where precious metals such as gold and platinum are extracted, and recovered materials such as plastics are sent to local recycling companies.

Watch this video to learn about extracting gold and other metals from e-waste:

Collectors, Traders and Recycling Companies for E-Waste

To find a recycling collector or someone who wants your e-waste, you can use our online business waste exchange, Waste is not Waste. We connect businesses and organisations that generate waste materials with those who want the materials, thus helping both parties save time and money while helping the environment.

Visit Waste is not Waste to learn more about us, the benefits and how it works. Remember that waste is not waste, but potential resources to be used again.

What Can I Do

First, reduce your e-waste by asking yourself whether you need to buy new stuff like IT equipment and handphones frequently. Remember to Buy and Use Only What You Need.

If you have some electrical and electronic items that you don’t want but are still in good condition, try to Give It Away or Sell for Cash before recycling them.

You can also use the following e-waste recycling collection services:

1. Nokia collects old Nokia handphones, handphone batteries and accessories at any Nokia Care Center, and sends them for recycling. Watch this video on the Nokia recycling programme:

2. Motorola has an ECOMOTO Takeback programme to collect back old Motorola handphones, batteries, chargers and accessories at selected collection points.

3. The Dell Recycling programme provides collection of unwanted Dell computer equipment (computers, printers, scanners, etc) from homes, and collection of any computer equipment (all brands) from business customers.

4. The HP Planet Partners programme provides recycling collection of computer equipment (computers, servers, printers, fax machines, digital cameras, etc) from commercial customers. The programme also provides a cartridge recycling service for everyone to return empty HP print cartridges to the HP office or to recycling bins at retail stores.

5. Toshiba offers collection of used notebooks from end users and also offers consumers a drop-off for their used Notebook Batteries at any Toshiba Notebook Service Centers.

6. The Canon Cartridge Recycling Programme provides collection of Canon toner and ink cartridges at four Canon locations.

7. Brother has a cartridge recycling programme to collect Brother ink cartridges by mail through a free postage-paid Brother recycling envelope. You can also recycle used Brother ink, toner and drum cartridges by walk-in at selected locations. Brother also collects back their cartridges directly from corporate customers.