Great to see that Government has finally agreed to work and partner up with CIGT (Cook Islands General Transport) in the collection of E waste – how long has it been since the last collection? Six years at least.

However the main point is … public are being made to pay for each unit they are recycling. Ok, no problem with that, user pays, but as government ministries are known to be the worst offenders when it comes to dumping computers, copiers, etc., out the back of their offices, some areas look like huge E-dump sites, and of course none of those items are paid for by staff, it’s all taxpayers money. But in reality, are Ministries also paying for the disposal of their E waste? Are they being charged the same per unit item as the public? Honest answers please.

(Name and address supplied)

Reply:

For the Tita ki te tita kore project, Government Departments are charged under the commercial rates and not the private household rates. So yes – they do pay. CIGT as the private sector partner have discounted all standard disposal rates by 20 per cent, both household and commercial/private sector. Government via NES is further discounting these rates by 60 per cent for private households, to encourage the community to turn in their waste. Government agencies are treated the same as commercial/private sector and do not receive the government subsidy. NES are thankful to central government for the budgetary support received to run this programme, which demonstrates acknowledgement that our environmental issues are central to our continued sustainable development. The Tita ki te Tita kore (TKTT) programme will run throughout financial year 23/24 and 24/25.

For the dumping of e-waste, please report this to nes@cookislands.gov.ck with some information and evidence of the dumping. NES investigates and applies the same process to all users including Government Departments.

From the NES Team