Don't toss out e-junk yet, environmentalists say

Saskatchewan residents who are piling up obsolete iPods, digital cameras and other electronic gear in the post-holiday period are being urged to hang on to their junky gadgets a little longer.

That's because a provincewide expansion of an e-waste recycling program doesn't begin until the spring.

Saskatoon filmmaker Andrei Feheregyhazi has postponed tossing out his outdated iPod, citing environmental concerns.

"The reason I don't throw it out is because I just don't know what's going to happen to it in the landfills," Feheregyhazi said.

Environmentalist are asking people like Feheregyhazi not to send old electronics to the landfill, where toxic chemicals can leach into the soil. Already, electronic waste is filling Saskatchewan dumps faster than any other kind of garbage.

Joanne Fedyk, a spokeswoman for the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council, is among those urging consumers not to chuck out old gizmos.

"Electronics in general have heavy metals like mercury sometimes, for the screens," Fedyk said. "The batteries have heavy metals in them. There's all sorts of other things.""

Some electronic waste, such as old computers and TVs, can be taken to SARCAN recycling centres. However, agency depots won't take digital cameras, camcorders, VCRs or dead iPods.

New regulations covering those items come into effect April 1. Some consumers told CBC News on Thursday they can they wait until then.

"It'd be so easy to dump it in the dumpster, but you can't really do that, especially when you have kids now that are of an age to ask questions [about waste]," shopper Carrie Lorenz said.