“Tackling e-waste in the Pacific requires changes to policy and infrastructure provisions by governments, a New Zealand recycler says.
“The director of New Zealand's Computer Recycling, Patrick Moynahan, said changes were critical not just for the preservation of the ecological beauty of the islands, but more importantly for the well-being of their people.
“A rising volume of e-waste is being discarded including appliances such as TVs, computers, mobile phones and air-conditioners, Mr Moynahan said.
"These things have a commodity value. You can extract the gold and silver and palladium and ferris and non-ferrous metals. But a lot of people just categorise it as general waste. And it creates quite a bit of toxicity in the ground," he said.
"And there's poor awareness and infrastructure in some of these countries to effectively and efficiently deal with the waste electronics."
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