Ram Faerber, through his AMMIF E-waste and Orange Drop programs has been able to divert tonnes of waste from landfill, successfully recycling what other people consider ‘trash.”
“One per cent or less goes to landfill,” said Faerber, noting his company is continuously audited to ensure the proper processing and downstream disposal of recycled materials.
Not only that, but Faerber provides recycling services for local fundraisers – like the BWG Electronic Waste Collection Day, held on Saturday at the Bradford and District Memorial Community Centre, which raised money for the Helping Hand Food Bank and the BWG Community Initiatives, a non-profit organization that looks after local community gardens and the free Bradford Community Meal.
The event was co-ordinated by BWG Community Initiatives member Carl Hordyk, and staffed by a small team of student volunteers – who helped empty vehicles of their loads of televisions, computers and peripherals, blenders, toasters, microwave ovens, radios and audio systems, appliances and old phones, metal items and batteries, dropped off for recycling.
A trailer was set up in the parking lot of the community centre at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning to take the e-waste. By 11 a.m., the drive had collected six skids of e-waste.
More than one resident drove up and thanked Hordyk and Faerber for the opportunity to safely dispose of their e-waste. But Faerber had concerns for the future – especially the County of Simcoe’s recent announcement that it would be collecting electronic waste and batteries this fall.
He said he worried “scavengers” would cull items set out at curbside for collection – stripping just the metals, without following proper and safe recycling procedures, then dumping unwanted materials.
“The County of Simcoe is taking away business from people,” said Faerber, undercutting legitimate recyclers at the expense of taxpayers, and creating a larger carbon footprint to collect the items.
“It’s not cheap to send a bag out for batteries to every household,” he said, noting that the county then has to pick up the items, at curbside, and send them for recycling.
Willma Bureau, contracts and collections supervisor with the county, provided an explanation of the expanded county program.
"The county's waste audits indicate that approximately 650,000 kilograms of electronics end up in our curbside garbage collected each year, which confirms that despite existing recycling programs in the community and at our landfills, these items are still ending up in the household garbage stream," she said.
The goal of curbside collection, Bureau said, "is to provide a convenient way for our residents to recycle electronic waste, so as to reduce environmental impacts and remove as much as we can from the garbage."
Recycling revenues will offset the cost of the program to taxpayers, she said.
By the end of the local e-waste collection day, the Bradford West Gwillimbury event had filled 16 skids with unwanted electronics.
“We had a great day – beautiful weather,” Hordyk said. “Our student volunteers enjoyed themselves… Residents that came to the community centre were very grateful we were there, and commented that it was easy to drop off.”
In addition to the drop-off, Hordyk also went to eight homes, picking up electronic items too heavy or awkward for the homeowners to drop off. He thanked Faerber, the volunteers and the community for their support.
