Jeremy Morse
Pontiac April 13, 2022
For those unsure of how to dispose of their electronic waste, there are three electronic waste disposals in the Pontiac.
Bristol, Portage du Fort and Mansfield et Pontefract house the Pontiac’s collective electronic waste.
Technically, the sites are meant for their respective municipalities, but it seems that there is no authority to . . .
prevent residents of other municipalities from using these sites.
“We rarely get people that come from other municipalities, but we would surely accept the waste,” said Éric Rochon, general manager for Mansfield et Pontefract. “It’s not something that we put out there, but we wouldn’t turn them around.”
According to Rochon, Mansfield et Pontefract’s electronic waste program has only existed for about four years. “Unfortunately, back then, most of that stuff was going into a metal area or right in the garbage.”
Rochon explained that the containers are not taken on a set schedule, but are emptied about two times a year.
Once the container is full, the municipality calls a collector from the Electronic Products Recycling Association (ERPA) and they pay the municipality for the waste.
From there, the electronics are transported to a facility to be dismantled and sorted.
Any salvageable materials, such as glass, precious metals and plastic, are saved and used to manufacture new products. Lead, mercury and other harmful elements are further disposed of.
Aside from the environmental impact caused by the safe disposal of harmful materials, electronic waste collection helps recycle scarce materials, softening the need to extract more from potentially sensitive ecosystems.
In Quebec, ERPA is a non-profit funded by provincial electronic handling fees that are added onto the sale price of new electronics.
The fee reflects the cost to recycle that particular device.
ERPA accepts televisions, cellphones, computers and many other types of electronics.
A full list and an interactive map with each disposal site’s address is available at: www.recyclemyelectronics.ca/qc/
