Ecotech Services administration, Author at Ecotech Services

Envirostep evaluation report

Ecotech Services administration

24 September 2014
Ecotech Services has answered the Envirostep questionnaire to determine how good our environmental performance is ranked. Interestingly, although we are aware of the various environmental issues facing our society (and indeed the planet) and we take our environmental protection measures very seriously, our overall ranking was only a mere 34%. This was broken down into an Environmental Performance of 38.5% and an Environmental Management of 32.3%.

Environmental Performance (38.5%)
1. Energy 25.2 %
2. Water 84.8 %
3. Waste 12.1 %
4. Transport 11.7 %
5. Site 38.5 %

Environmental Management (32.3%)
6. Planning 29.4 %
7. Compliance 40.0 %
8. Operations 21.0 %
9. Information 60.0 %

The automated response to the questionnaire gave the following recommendations:
- Transport
  - Consider replacing your vehicles with more fuel efficient alternatives
  - Find out the rated fuel economy of your light vehicle(s)
  - Get your drivers to check tyre pressures monthly
- Site
  - Modify your activities or site to make them more compatible
  - Find out if your business is compatible with neighbouring land uses
  - Find out if you have an inspection regime for your site/facilities
- Planning
  - Review reported accidents, incidents & complaints
- Operations
  - Develop emergency response procedures
They are all valid suggestions but for transport running our older vehicles is not a particularly important issue since their usage is minimised through the use of courier services, telecommunications, and bicycles. As for accidents, incidents and complaints, they could be divided into human health and safety, and environmental issues. Note that we have not had any accidents, incidents, or complaints to date.

In defence of our low ranking we are would like to think that our environmental ethics are good and our environmental conscience is clear because the actual work that we do – namely minimising the e-waste generation and energy consumption – has a high net environmental benefit.

A spreadsheet of the Envirostep report is filed here.
administration
Submission on priority products intervention

Ecotech Services administration

2 July 2014

Ecotech Services has made a submission on the Ministry for the Environment Priority waste streams for product stewardship intervention discussion document.
Given the level of harm created by e-waste and the potential for economic growth from the repair, refurbishment, and recycling of electrical products Ecotech Services strongly supports having them declared as “priority products” by the Minister for the Environment.
See our submission here and our product stewardship page for more information.

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Nanotechnology based battery extenders

Ecotech Services administration

7 June 2014

Ecotech Services was alerted to a product on the market that claims to extend the life of batteries used in common electronic items. This particular one is the AkkuFresh Nanotech Battery Life Foil. The benefits described in the sales pitch for a special deal seems vaguely plausible but highly questionable:

“AkkuFresh® absorbs all source of energy inclouding (sic) electromagnetic field (EMF) energy and generate negative ions far infrared waves and biorezonance. Negative ions will penetrate into the battery and create higher frequency on witch the crystals resonate and burst. This cleaning process causes the battery to regain its initial capacity, and enhance the flow of negative ions. It also let’s the Lithium ions resonate, through which an increase in voltage is obtained.”

The poor grammar and the spelling mistake is an indication that it may be a dubious product, but the phrase “generate negative ions far infrared waves ” and the mention of the pseudoscience of “biorezonance” strongly suggests that it is. A battery pack usually consists of opaque plastic which is of course impervious to infrared and to negative ions (at the operating temperature that batteries use.)

AkkuFresh claims to have had their product tested by Kent Holdings Ltd. “in co-operation with US and European universities, independent testing laboratories and battery technology centers”. As well as testing and promoting AkkuFresh Kent Holding also promotes the ionXtra® intelligent water. This removes any credibility the company may have on the grounds of vested interests and rational thought.

A similar product called BatMax is on the market with the same dubious marketing.

There are many ways of improving battery life, such as storage temperature, charging regimes, battery type selection criteria, and technological advances. Products for improving battery that are promoted using pseudoscience and buzzwords are of no value.

scams
Product stewardship for hazardous waste

Ecotech Services administration

22 May 2014

Last week Amy Adams, the Minister for the Environment, said on TVOne news that the TV Takeback scheme will have to put out for tender again. This came after an announcement that the government funded TV Takeback scheme had run into difficulties (see our earlier blog post).

The Government has now announced a consultation process for hazardous waste. E-waste comes under this definition and it is one of the fastest growing sectors of the waste stream. Given the problems encountered with televisions alone it is important that end of life disposal of these products is address.

Since voluntary measures have been shown to give a low recycling rate Ecotech Services advocates product stewardship for durable goods. One method of administering a product steward system in a deposit refund system, of which bottle deposit is the most well known example.

Televisions, as well as other appliances, are sometimes seen discarded on the streets of Christchurch. In this case it is next to the Styx Mill Conservation Reserve.
Image: Alan Liefting

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TV takeback programme

Ecotech Services administration

11 April 2014

It is disappointing that RCN may default on its contract with the New Zealand Government on the TV takeback recycling programme. RCN is the leading e-waste processor in New Zealand and if anyone could make it work it would be them.

Ecotech Services supports the concept of Product Stewardship for electronics and electrical goods with the best method being a Deposit Refund System (DRS). It is a well established fact that the voluntary measures preferred by the government are not effective in reducing the rising volume of e-waste.

Discarded televisions on Barbadoes St in Christchurch.
Image: Alan Liefting

In Christchurch Ecotech Services staff have noted a rise in the number of the older analogue televisions discarded on the roadside around the city. This is without a doubt happening as a direct result of both the switch off of the analogue television transmission service and the cost incurred to recycle the obsolete televisions. If there was a refund made available on the televisions that could be claimed at the end of their useful life we would not see this sort of litter and they would be diverted from landfills.

In order to prevent the newer electronics products from becoming part of some future e-waste crisis it is imperative that the Minister for the Environment uses his powers granted under the Waste Minimisation Act to declare all electronics items as priority products.

In Europe and some of the US states there is a more responsible attitude to addressing the e-waste issue. Why does so called “clean-green New Zealand” lag so far behind some of our major trading partners?
Consumption

Ecotech Services administration

3 April 2014

The Huffington Post have done a photo essay of the high level of consumption in the United States.

10 Shocking Photos That Will Change How You See Consumption And Waste

The photos are mind-boggling when you think that it is only a very small part of the total amount. Here at Ecotech Services we offer a recycling service for selected items
Electrical safety testing

Ecotech Services administration

14 February 2014

I had two cases last week were the electrical safety regulations failed in their intended purpose for two different reasons.

An item came in for repair which powered up but did not operate. It had a current AS/NZS 3760 test and tag label. I discovered that there was no earth on the metal frame of the equipment. I also discovered that the power supply cord must have been pulled, breaking the supply wires but it leaving the earth wire intact. That was the first problem – lack of a decent cord clamp! The second fault, and one that should have been picked up on the test and tagging, was that the socket did not have the earth pin connected to the chassis. It should have had the earth for it to be sold in New Zealand.

In the second case I discovered loose connections in a mains plug and some of the plug assembly had become hot, resulting in distortion of plastic parts. It was on a piece of equipment that draws a fairly large amount of current and it is not likely that the plug would have caught fire but if the fault was in the equipment itself it may have represented a fire hazard. The plug was not original.

Test and tagging under AS/NZS 3760, AS/NZ 5761, or AS/NZ 5762 is only of use if it is carried out correctly, and it does not pick up loose connections that may lead to fire risk.

safety
Updated website

Ecotech Services administration

10 January 2014

We have now updated our website to the popular WordPress content management system. This will give us more flexibility and make adding new content a lot easier.

Ecotech Services has a company philosophy of supporting the open source software community and Alan Liefting, the company founder, has done a lot of volunteer work on the Wikimedia Foundation projects, including Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. It was therefore a logical choice to use the open source WordPress software.

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