The Environmental Handling Fee (EHF) charged to a variety of new electronics purchased in Quebec. Quebec will join 7 other provinces which currently charge an environmental handling fee for safe disposal of electronic items. The EHF is included in the price of the electronic item and will not be added on at the cash.
What is an environmental handling fee?: An environmental handling fee is indicated on receipts for electronic purchases as an “EHF” with an associated cost. The fee covers the cost of recovering and recycling or processing that electronic once it reaches its end of life. The money goes to the Association pour le recyclage des produits electronique du Quebec (ARPE) which manages the program, identifies and certifies recyclers and processors of electronic waste, as well as funding drop-off centres where consumers and businesses can take their old electronics. The environmental handling fee will vary by product. The fee is meant to reflect the true cost of disposing the product.
Here is a link to a breakdown of the handling fee charged by electronic:
Where electronic items can be dropped off: There are several municipalities within Quebec that already operate drop-off centres for old electronics. These will continue to exist, but will now be funded by the ARPE. There is no charge for dropping off old electronics. Keeping them out of landfill is very important, however, given that there are many valuable metals within electronics that can be extracted and reused, as well as toxic materials that should not leach into the ground. Recycling is the most reponsible method of disposing of electronic devices.
In addition to municipalities already participating in e-waste recycling, Bureau en Gros (Staples outside of Quebec) also has drop-off depots for old electronics.
All e-waste is then collected and sent to certified recyclers and processors for recovery.
For a list of depots and municipalities that participate in e-waste collection in Quebec, see this page on the ARPE site.
To find a list of depots and municipalities in other provinces, visit the EPRA homepage (Electronic Products Recycling Association) to find your province, items accepted for recycling and depots where you can drop them off.
What kinds of electronic and electrical devices can be recycled?: Below is a list of products that can currently accepted for safe disposal and recycling in Quebec. Hopefully the list will grow as the program becomes more established. (source)
What Can I Recycle (in Quebec)?
Portable Computers
- Laptop computer
- Notebook computer
- Tablet computer
- Netbook computer
- E-book readers
Desktop Computer
- Computer terminal
- Desktop computer used as a server
- Thin client or Net top Computers
Display Devices
- Television
- Computer monitor
- Professional display
- Closed circuit monitor screen
- TV with built-in DVD and/or VCR player/recorder
- All in one computer
Printers, Scanners and Fax Machines
- Desktop printers
- Desktop scanners
- Desktop MFDs
- Camera dock printers
- Desktop business card scanners
- Desktop cheque scanners
- Desktop computer scanners
- Desktop fax machines
- Desktop label, barcode, card printers
- Desktop photo negative scanner
Floor standing Print, Copy, Fax and Multi-Functions Product
- Floor standing printers
- Floor standing scanners
- Floor standing MFDs
- Floor standing fax machine drum scanners
- Floor standing fax machine photocopiers
- Floor standing fax machines
Computer Peripherals
- Mouse
- Trackball
- Keyboard
- Keypad
- Cables
- Connectors
- Chargers
- Remotes
NON-Cellular Phones and Answering Machines
- Telephones (corded and cordless, VoIP, satellite phones)
- Telephone line answering machines (cassette and digital)
- Speaker/Conference phone
Cellular devices and Pagers
- Cellular phones, including those offering camera, video recording and/or audio functions
- Smart phones (cell-enabled)
- Palmtop computers (cell-enabled)
- Cell-enabled PDAs utilizing touch-screen technology
- Cell-enabled handheld devices
- Pagers
Collectors come in two kinds: the one who has affiliation with a permanent drop-off
site, and the one who operates from a temporary location set up for a specific collection event.
The more batteries you give for recycling, the more money you will make.
Cadmium, which is often used in batteries, is another pollutant that puts the environment at
risk.
More than sixty five percent of the wastages can be recycled and reused in the future.
In animals, excessive lead may also cause blood disorder.
Depending on the item, an individual can typically get anywhere from ten to sixty percent
of the original purchase price of the item.
There are recycling container items like plastic soda bottles, empty metal food
cans and boxes, soda cans, cereal boxes, empty pizza delivery boxes, aluminum food containers and
all types of paper products. Potomac e – Scrap LLC, one of the leading privately held independent scrap recycling company which
assists many organizations everywhere in the entire world in recycling
the old electronics and scrap. In the past five years, We
have strengthened its role as an expert in wastewater treatment,
and is now the market leader in microwave technology
measurements used in treatment processes.
There are recycling container items like plastic soda bottles,
empty metal food cans and boxes, soda cans, cereal boxes,
empty pizza delivery boxes, aluminum food
containers and all types of paper products. If the waste management is done in right
way, the level of pollution can be controlled remarkably.
24 million tonnes of aluminium is generated each year.
Yes they will only pass the fees on to us.
Buy better stuff (whatever it is), take care of it and keep it longer. Less waste, less fees.
I think it makes perfect sense, the consumer uses the product, how can one blame the manufacture, not to mention, if they pay the fee then they just hike the price, so comes to the same thing. However these fees, are a government taxation, no need for them, as today its profitable to recycle, many companies will actually pay you for old electronics
The only question I have is- why aren’t the companies who make the products paying this recycling fee?????
It seems to be like everything else – someone else makes the problem and we the consumers end up paying for it!!!!!
What happened to accountability? What happened to responsible business? Do these things not mean anything anymore? Did they ever?