(PRWEB) April 9, 2006 -- E-waste is the fastest-growing type of waste thrown out by households and companies as the IT industry updates products faster and faster. A new PC is now obsolete in two years and millions of them end up on landfill waste sites each year. Now a new EU directive will require businesses to reuse and recycle their redundant electrical equipment rather than dump it landfills. The European Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) Directive will come into force later this year, and non-profit recycling company Maxitech.biz has been praised by Secretary of State for the Environment Margaret Beckett MP for the help it is offering businesses anxious to ensure they do not fall foul of the new law.
The Secretary of State recently singled out Maxitech for praise, highlighting the company's commitment to tackling social exclusion. She said: ‘Maxitech must be congratulated on adopting a proactive approach to the WEEE Directive and in providing training and employment opportunities in this field for unemployed people from disadvantaged backgrounds. I am sure that facilities like Maxitech will be key to fulfilling the UK's obligations under the WEEE Directive to reuse, treat and recycle waste electrical equipment.'
The electronic equipment reuse and recycling company - whose mission is to tackle the toxic time-bomb of obsolete computers and turn them into a safe and valuable resource - is shortly to open a new site in London in response to increasing demand for its services. The new site - made possible by a £50,000 grant from the London Development Agency (given through the London Recycling Fund) - will enable Maxitech to double capacity to the point where it can handle the equivalent of half of London's old computers, making it the largest computer recycling company in London.
Young Tycoon Peter Paduh, Managing Director of Maxitech.biz, recently voted Young Businessperson of the year by the London Chamber of Commerce and ITV, said: ‘Society is becoming ever more dependent on computerized technologies, but that creates the problem of outdated equipment. An estimated two million working Pentium or equivalent PCs are dumped in landfill sites in the UK every year, creating a massive environmental hazard. Our priority is to prevent old computers from becoming an environmental liability, and instead turn them into a valuable resource for charities and community groups.'
As well as providing an ethical solution to the problem of redundant electronic equipment, Maxitech offers IT training opportunities to inexperienced jobseekers from all social and racial backgrounds, including refugees. The new North London site will create an extra 100 such training opportunities each year. Paduh says: ‘We are trying to help these people overcome the pattern of social exclusion because as a former refugee from the Balkans myself, I know how hard it can be to fulfil your potential in a new country with a different language.'
Maxitech's new site, which will be located next door to Haringey Council's newly opened reuse and recycling centre in North London, will be opened formally in late spring 2006.
Notes to editors
Maxitech.biz
Maxitech is a multi-award-winning not-for-profit organization dedicated to reusing and recycling redundant IT and electronic equipment. Maxitech is based in North London, but can arrange for the nationwide collection of IT and electronic equipment at low cost. Maxitech's preference is to reuse equipment received, thus prolonging its lifespan, minimizing waste and benefiting charities and community groups who receive low-cost or free IT equipment.
Further information: www.maxitech.biz
London Recycling Fund
Maxitech's expansion has been supported by a £50,000 grant from the London Recycling Fund, which is a £50 million fund that aims to help London Boroughs and waste authorities recycle more household waste through improving arrangements for recycling in London. The Fund operates through a joint initiative between the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority (GLA), the Association of London Government (ALG) and London Waste Action. The Fund was agreed by the Government in March 2002 and has been allocated core funding of £46.95 million over the four years 2002 to 2006 from DEFRA from the Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund for England. In March 2004, WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme) also agreed to contribute £2.588 million to help fund communications and awareness recycling campaigns in London. Since April 2002 the Fund, which aims to lever additional funds into projects, has awarded grants to 135 different recycling projects, which together with the matched funding, represents a total investment in new recycling infrastructure and arrangements with a total value of over £100 million.
Press Contact: Peter Paduh
Company Name: MAXITECH.BIZ LTD
Email: peter@maxitech.biz
Phone: 0870 199 5010
Website: www.maxitech.biz
AndhraNews.net News for April 9, 2006
