Johannesburg, South Africa. (March 2022). In the battle to alleviate the rising tide of e-waste in South Africa, DIY Retailer LEROY MERLIN in partnership with AST Recycling will roll out the installation of e-waste bins[E1]  throughout all four stores in Johannesburg[. The recycling providers research shows the greatest hindrance to successful e-waste management has not been for lack of environmental concern, it has been the lack of convenient drop off points, lack of knowledge of how to dispose of items as well as the fear of data security breaches.

To prevent the contamination of water, soil and air from hazardous materials such as mercury, lead, arsenic and cadmium found in e-waste products, the bins ensure that items are not sent to landfills, where they can leach into the groundwater or burnt, negatively affecting the health of humans and wildlife. 

This initiative aligns with the France based companies’ commitment to implementing eco-innovations through their global “We Make It Positive” initiative and will commemorate Global Recycling day, on the 18 March 2022. “It is important that we innovate in our business practices so that each operation we launch integrates a balance between economic, environmental and human concerns.” says Cédric Sennepin, CEO of LEROY MERLIN South Africa.

The e-waste bins are secure as data security of those disposing of items is of utmost importance to both AST Recycling and LEROY MERLIN. “It’s our guarantee that electronic devices or components are subjected to full data sanitisation and that hard drives are destroyed and never reused,” says Rodney Peters, head of IT Asset Disposal at AST Recycling.

LEROY MERLIN & AST Recycling encourage the neighbouring communities of Little Falls, Fourways, Greenstone and Boksburg to make use of these convenient e-waste bins at LEROY MERLIN stores in these areas. The e-waste bins accept power tools, printers, TV’s, desktop monitors, mobiles and tablets, computers and cables, small electronics, audio and video devices as well as media players.

“Looking after our environment is so incredibly important, and even though many of us try our best to reduce, reuse and recycle, we tend to overlook our electronics  says”, “Good Things Guy”, Brent Lindeque, and resident of Fourways. “According to the e-Waste Association of South Africa (eWASA), we generate about 6.2 kilograms of e-waste per inhabitant annually, and only 12% of that is recycled. That is a huge problem, but knowing that there is a place close to home where we can now recycle all our electronics is really good news for all of us... and even better news for our environment. “