Why You Need to Recycle Your E-Waste (and how London Drugs can help!)

Earth Day 2017 may be over, but we at London Drugs know that thinking about and acting on behalf of our planet is a vitally important year-long activity. That’s why we accept so many forms of recyclables at our stores, including everything from small appliances and empty bottles to both standard and rechargeable batteries. We even accept styrofoam!

 

There is one type of waste that can be especially damaging to both the environment and to communities around the world: e-waste.

It deserves special attention because, too often, we don’t think of e-waste as being recyclable at all. Or we don’t realize that there are good and not-so-good ways to deal with it.

What is E-Waste?

The first important thing to know is that “e-waste” is not garbage, it’s actually a category of recyclables. The problem is, objects in this category aren’t always disposed of properly. In fact, the UN estimates that only about 14% of e-waste is currently being recycled around the globe.

The category of e-waste includes all electronic appliances, but one of the most hazardous sub-types is computers. This includes PCs, gaming consoles, monitors, televisions, tablets, smartphones, and all other handheld digital devices.

Collectively, items in this category have advanced components inside them, such as microchips and motherboards. Although many of us rarely see these components, it’s important to understand that they are often constructed out of hazardous materials like cadmium, lead, and chromium.

Thankfully, many of the companies that produce these products, including Apple, are working toward a future in which these hazardous materials either won’t be needed or can be entirely obtained from recycled e-waste. But we aren’t there yet.

It’s important for consumers to know about the damage to the environment these products can cause when they are disposed of improperly, and to take responsibility for making sure disposal is done right.

How Dangerous is E-Waste?

Improperly handled or mistakenly thrown out e-waste is currently causing serious damage to the environment worldwide. Over time the dangerous metals and chemicals in e-waste (including in plastic casings) break down in our landfills. From there, these pollutants can enter the soil, the air, and the water in the surrounding area.

Another threat posed by e-waste is to the labourers who handle the products. This is especially true for the vast quantities of e-waste that are frequently shipped to developing nations for processing. Too often, these recycling operations are poorly regulated, leaving workers unfairly exposed to physical harm, illness, and even death.

On top of that, the processes used to isolate the valuable parts of e-waste can be crude and may cause more environmental damage than simply throwing the e-waste into the trash. For example, burning copper wires at low temperatures to remove the plastic coating (a common practice at unregulated recycling operations) releases hazardous chemical compounds into the air.

This is why it is so important not only to recycle your e-waste but to ensure that it is being disposed of responsibly. This is needed for the sake of the planet and for the safety of the labourers involved in the process.

What Can We Do About E-Waste?

Good news! If you live in Western Canada, London Drugs accepts all forms of e-waste for proper recycling. Simply bring your tech recyclables into one of our stores and look for the recycling station.

If you don’t see the recycling kiosk in your local LD store, or aren’t sure quite where to find it, just ask one of our LD Experts or speak to someone at the customer service desk. For certain items, there may be daily limits we will inform you of, but we will always do our best to accommodate your recycling needs.

When you recycle your e-waste at London Drugs you can be sure it will be handled by fully-screened and certified companies and never shipped to substandard processing plants. Another benefit of recycling your e-waste at London Drugs is that we always make sure your personal data is properly deleted. In some cases, we may even offer your used electronics a second life by providing them to those in need.

Go the extra mile for the environment and participate in our computer packaging re-use system called Bring Back The Pack. We’re thrilled to have partnered with Certified Data to bring you this program that enables re-use of brand new computer packaging.

Don’t live near a London Drugs? Don’t worry.

There are other ways to safely dispose of e-waste in Canada. The first place to check is with your local recycling depot, but The Salvation Army also typically accepts e-waste.

And remember, whatever you do, the most important step you can take to avoid contributing to the e-waste problem is to never put your electronics into the garbage.

Have more questions about e-waste recycling? You can always ask an LD Expert in-store.

And we encourage you to learn more about our recycling program at GreenDeal.ca.

London Drugs Prince George Spring Clean Up

recycle at london drugs

Photo via weak_hope

Saturday, April 16, 2016
10:00am to 3:00pm
London Drugs #196 – 1600 15th Ave. Prince George

Kidseat Recyclers is excited to partner with London Drugs in Prince George to offer city and surrounding area residents the opportunity to recycle children’s car seats. Join us Saturday April 16th from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and help keep this massive amount of plastic and metal out of our landfills. For a small fee of $10, Kidseat Recyclers will transport seats to a recycling facility in Alberta, separate the metal from the plastic shells and recycle both. The metal goes to a metal recycling facility and the plastic shells will be re-chipped, baled and resold to be used for a number of different products (such as making plastic building materials). PLEASE NOTE…fabric MUST be removed from seats in order to be accepted.

The Tire Stewardship of BC is offering Prince George and area residents to recycle their old tires at the Spring Clean Up event. Old tires with or without rims can be dropped off during the event. Tires that are up to 39” can be dropped off free of charge.

RRROCA Community Cleanup a Huge Success

Over 4,500 pounds of electronics and other items diverted from the City of Calgary’s landfills

On September 20, 2014 the communities of Rocky Ridge and Royal Oak participated in a Community Cleanup sponsored by The City of Calgary and London Drugs.

The parking lot of London Drugs Royal Oak was turned into a recycling party with music playing, a Community Appreciation BBQ serving up hot dogs, and a steady stream of recyclers from the community dropping off items at the different charity and recycling stations.

Local charities, Neighborlink and Goods Trading Services together reusing a whole truck load of clothes, household goods, furniture and toys – all being donated to families in need. Habitat for Humanity also collected remnants from renovation projects for use in future construction.

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London Drugs aims to double recycling during earth month

Retailer applauds everyday green heroes who helped keep over 10 million pounds of waste out of landfills in the last year

VANCOUVER, B.C. – London Drugs today announced aggressive recycling goals for Earth Month aiming to double the amount of materials recycled in stores over April last year.

“More than 52,000 kilograms of waste including electronics, Styrofoam, cardboard and other materials were recycled in stores last April. This year we hope to see a 100 percent increase,” says Maury McCausland, Administrator of Retail Operations and Sustainability for London Drugs.

With many Canadians taking part in spring cleaning during the month of April it is a perfect opportunity for customers to collect their old electronics, light bulbs, batteries, cell phones and other recyclable items and drop them off at any London Drugs location.

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London Drugs’ recycling efforts recognized with an emerald award

emerald-award-mccauslandCanadian Retailer Receives Top ‘Waste Wise’ Prize in Alberta

London Drugs received top honours for their ‘What’s the Green Deal?’ program and corporate recycling efforts at the 2013 Emerald Awards held Thursday night in Edmonton.

Taking home the ‘waste wise’ prize in the large business category, the company was one of 32 finalists out of a record number of nominations from across Alberta this year.

“London Drugs has stewarded environmental efforts for a number of years, and we have made strides through our waste diversion programs,” said Maury McCausland, Administrator of Retail Operations for London Drugs. “It’s truly an honour to be recognized for these efforts. It’s not only a testament to our team of employees who all aspire to make a difference, but also our loyal customers who care to participate in the recycling programs we offer.”

In the 1980s, London Drugs was one of Canada’s first retailers to offer its customers the opportunity to recycle plastic shopping bags. Since then, recycling solutions and the list of items and materials that London Drugs recycles has grown substantially – now more than 74 per cent of the company’s waste is recycled or repurposed, instead of going to landfill.

Since the 2008 launch of London Drugs’ educational ‘What’s the Green Deal’ program and the support from its staff and customers, London Drugs now tallies more than 42 million pounds of materials recycled including: Styrofoam, batteries, computers, televisions, cell phones, paper, plastic, cardboard, and metals.

“We offer customers in-store recycling that goes beyond what is mandated by regulations. We work with our buyers and suppliers to improve our product sustainability, and we communicate with our customers in-store and online with a dedicated website, blogs, videos and social media,” adds McCausland. “We are proud of the achievements of our employees and customers in reducing waste, but we realize the journey to sustainability is one that never ends. That’s why ‘What’s the Green Deal?’ is a question we will continue to ask ourselves, even as we endeavor to answer it.”

London Drugs’ overall waste diversion rate rose from 67% in 2011 to 74% in 2012. And individual stores have advanced even further with a chain-wide goal for all London Drugs stores to achieve 95% waste diversion by 2015.

In Alberta, the Oliver Square West store in Edmonton posted an impressive 93% recycling rate. This success story can be read here.

The company also continues to look for ways to help green the communities they operate in. Most recently, London Drugs partnered with Green Calgary to reduce the ‘waste hangover’ of a popular Stampede breakfast in Calgary.

To see what products can be recycled through London Drugs, or to learn more about these eco-friendly services and products visit the What’s The Green Deal? website at http://www.greendeal.ca

Another recycling first for London Drugs

London Drugs is the first major retailer in Canada to introduce recycling collection boxes for all beauty packaging and chocolate wrappers.

London Drugs, a leading general retailer in Western Canada, is now offering consumers a chance to recycle their used beauty packaging and chocolate wrappers at all 75 of their stores. The recycling program is in partnership with leading recycler and upcycler TerraCycle, and current TerraCycle program partners, Garnier and Nestlé.

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What’s the deal with the Green Deal?

If I was going to rank myself on a scale of 1 to 10 on how “green” I am, I’d give myself a solid 6. I would be an 8 if I wasn’t clinging (for some reason) to two old cell phones and a drawer full of dead batteries. I should get a 10 for knowing I can do better!

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