eDay scoops Supreme Award in Wellington Airport Community Awards

Computer Access New Zealand (CANZ), organiser of the recent eDay computer recycling event, was honoured as the recipient of the Supreme Award in the Wellington Airport Community Awards, held at a ceremony in the Wellington Council Chambers last night.

The Awards recognise the achievements of community groups in Wellington with categories covering environment, health, education, art and sport. CANZ was selected from 41 nominees for eDay's effectiveness in diverting toxic waste from landfills and for mobilising volunteer support.

eDay, held last Saturday 12 September, is New Zealand's only community-driven national electronic waste recycling event. This year, 16,391 carloads of electronic waste (e-waste) was dropped off at 38 venues from Kaitaia to Invercargill with around 83,000 computer items diverted from being dumped in New Zealand's landfills - totalling 966 tonnes.

Wellington eDay, held at the Westpac Stadium, was again the largest eDay site with 1,998 cars dropping off 87 tonnes of e-waste. eDay began in Wellington in 2006.

Laurence Zwimpfer, chairperson of CANZ and eDay organiser, says the award is fantastic recognition of the effort invested by over 1,500 volunteers and 100 funding partners, including central government, local authorities, local businesses, computer companies, recycling partners and transport operators.

"The success of eDay for four years now proves that New Zealanders are looking for a sustainable way to dispose of e-waste. It is great to have this initiative acknowledged by the Wellington community where eDay started back in 2006," said Mr Zwimpfer.

Mr Zwimpfer says volunteers are key to operations on the day by helping to direct traffic, interview drivers about their awareness of e-waste issues and removing computer equipment from cars.

"The role that volunteers play is crucial to the success of the event; without them it simply wouldn't happen," said Mr Zwimpfer. "Wellington has consistently achieved the best turnout of volunteers with over 200 participating this year; in fact we had so many people offering to help that we were starting to think about how we could transport Wellingtonians to other centres."

eDay gives people the chance to dispose of their old computer equipment and mobile phones in an environmentally-friendly way and is aimed at raising awareness about the benefits of recycling e-waste.

The Wellington Airport Community Awards are run in partnership with The Community Trust of Wellington and five local councils.

CANZ, along with other category winners from Wellington City, will join winners from each of the Greater Wellington Region council areas for the regional awards at Wellington Airport in October.

CANZ is a not-for-profit trust set up by the 2020 Communications Trust in 2000 with support from the Ministry of Education to promote the reuse and recycling of computer equipment.