The Atlantic Canada Electronics Stewardship (ACES) program will allow Prince Edward Island residents to drop off unwanted electronics free of charge at six Island Waste Management Corp (IWMC) approved locations across the island province.
"Through our collaboration with Island Waste Management Corporation we are providing island residents with a convenient and responsible way to recycle their unwanted electronics and divert them from PEI's landfill," says ACES Board Chair, David Bois of Home Hardware.
This industry-led recycling program is funded by an environmental handling fee (EHF) charged on the sale of new electronic products that are regulated under provincial law. The fees collected by ACES are used solely to cover the actual costs related to the collection, transportation, administration and recycling of these electronic items.
The ACES Program was created by the electronics and retail industries to manage the recycling of electronic products that are regulated by government and banned from disposal in landfills. As of July 1, 2010, the province of PEI will regulate all electronics products that are currently part of the ACES program.
"The Government of Prince Edward Island is pleased to work with industry to offer an electronics recycling program that will address the serious environmental issue of electronic waste becoming part of the solid waste stream," said Environment, Energy & Forestry Minister Richard Brown. "This program will help create public awareness that we all share in the responsibility for protecting the environment."
Since inception, the ACES Program had collected more than 6,000 metric tonnes of electronics for recycling. That is the equivalent of loading a 53 foot tractor trailer more than 500 times with regulated electronic products.