In order to promote minor electronic and electrical repairs we now have a minimum fee of $15 instead of $45. We have always charged a low price for minor repairs. This announcement is to formalise it.
If we have a technician available we are able to do some repairs immediately.
There will still be a $45 inspection/assessment fee for large items that require time to diagnose the fault and to supply a quote.
The $15 fee does not generally apply to computers, laptops, and tablets. These items have a $54 inspection/assessment fee.
A Visione VISDVD5820 DVD player came in for recycling and since it has a HDMI output I thought I may as well have a go at refurbishing it. They are budget brand and as we will see you really get what you pay for. It seems to be a brand name used by Harvey Norman.
The batteries in the remote had leaked and caused really bad corrosion on one of the battery terminals to the point of almost completely rusting the retaining spring! Also, there were splatters of solder left on the circuit board from when the battery terminals were manually soldered in place in the factory.
A quick internet search showed that this fault has has happened to others. They sold for $29 and $18 and as low as $9! There is no point doing any repairs on it so off it goes to be dismantled.
It is a shame that this sort of poor quality equipment with poor quality batteries is being sold. This sort of stuff is short lived enough as it is because of the rapid change in technology.
After a decade of slow demand the market for second hand paint pails has strengthened. Market analysts working in the second hand paint pail market have seen a supply side issue. This appears to be largely due to a shortage of plasterboard in the construction sector leading to a lower demand for paint. It was announced that there could be 100 shipping containers of plasterboard arriving to cover the shortfall in local production.
The supply of the pails is now sporadic. Creative Junk are experiencing high demand with them “flying out the door”. Retail prices are either $2 or $4 on Facebook and are not readily available on the Trade Me auction site.
Alan Liefting the Paint Pail Purchasing Manager at Ecotech Services, has been watching the paint pail market for some time. “We have been using the pails for storing all manner of itmes from our recycling operation for a long time,” said Mr Liefting. “They were easy to get. People were glad to get rid of them. Now we have to pay for them!”
The reputable paint supply merchants rarely have empty paint pails and the ones withat have paint residue are sent away for recycling. There is speculation that there is stockpiling of paint pails to reduce the supply and attempt to manipulate the market but wthere is no concrete proof of this.
(Whilst this is my attempt at humour it is largely based on facts – except my company role!)
Most of our prices have remained the same for a long while but a wide number of factors means we have to raise some of them. The changes are effective immediately.
These are the updated prices and our full price list can be found on our prices page.
Inspection/assessment/minimum fee – electrical and electronics
$39.00
$45.00
10150
Call out fee – misc
$35.00
$60.00
10200
Labour – repair – computer – per 10 min
$15.00
$18.00
10201
Inspection/assessment/minimum fee – computers
$45.00
$54.00
30002
Recycling service – misc – per kg
$0.20
$0.40
30100
Labour – recycling – per 10 min
$9.00
$11.00
32110
Alkaline battery recycling (per kg)
$3.00
$3.50
32120
NiCd/NiMh battery recycling
$3.50
$4.50
32122
NiCd battery recycling – per kg
$3.50
$4.50
32132
Lithium battery recycling (kg)
$0.00
$5.00
32133
Laptop battery recycling
$0.00
$2.00
32134
Li-ion (lithium) battery recycling
$0.00
$5.00
32136
Li-MnO2 battery recycling
$0.00
$5.00
32172
NiMH battery recycling – per kg
$3.50
$4.50
32190
Battery recycling – unsorted
$3.50
$4.50
34114
All in one computer recycling
$8.00
$10.00
34122
Monitor recycling
$8.00
$10.00
34150
E-book reader recycling
$0.00
$2.00
34210
Small appliance recycling
$0.00
$2.00
34211
Microwave oven recycling
$0.00
$4.00
34231
CRT TV recycling
$30.00
$35.00
34233
Plasma TV recycling
$25.00
$30.00
34234
Fluorescent-backlit LCD TV recycling
$18.00
$20.00
34235
LED-backlit LCD TV recycling
$12.00
$20.00
34530
Recycling – unit – telecom – cord
$1.15
$3.00
34540
Recycling – unit – telecom – IP
$1.15
$3.00
35133
Compact cassette recycling
$4.50
$1.00
39201
Collection fee – Christchurch
$22.50
$27.50
There are numerous reasons for raising our prices including higher fuel prices, export freight price increases, higher downstream recycling fees, inflation, an uncertain economic environment due to COVID-19, and an increase in the minimum wage.
I was pottering around at work on the Sunday night of a long Easter weekend and decided to fix a set of tool drawers that came in for recycling. Yep, we get all sorts of things coming in for recycling!
Ecotech Services has needed a set of tool drawers for a while and I have been looking out for a suitable second hand bargain. And then these turn up!
The bottom drawer was a bit hard to close. Turns out the drawer runner had lost its bearings. All but one of the ball bearings on the runner were missing.
What are the chances of getting a new runner for it? Possibly not good but repairing is usually the first option for me. So I need some 3.8mm diameter ball bearings to fix it. We have got things that look like short drawer runners in stock that have been salvaged off all sorts of things, including monitor stands and photo printing kiosks. They would a good source of replacement ball bearings. The first one I pulled apart had 4.8mm ball bearings but I got lucky on the second one. It had the 3.8mm ball bearings that I was after.
The drawer was easy to get out. There are two plastic clips that act as end stops and can be moved to get the drawer out.
I cut the end off the sacrificial runner to get the ball bearings out. I then had to remove the end clip on the tool drawer runner to take out the ball bearing holder and I then added the replacement bearings to it. I used bit of grease as a “glue” to keep all of the bearings in place while getting it back on the runner. It was then a matter of putting the runner end clip back on and sliding the drawer back in.
This is the ball bearing holder now with its full set of bearings.
Ecotech now has some better tool storage in our mechanical work area!
We had a cheap Homemaker brand HT7145KM heater come in for recycling. This one had two of the halogen heating lamps rattling around in the bottom because the ends had shattered and the third on was on the way out as well. I thought I would take it apart for a bit of a laugh. And look what I found.
One of the case screws had pierced one of the wires, in this case it was carrying the voltage going to the oscillating motor. This is pretty poor manufacturing quality to say the least! Fortunately the screw is recessed about 20mm down a hole otherwise it would be a serious safety issue.
Another worry is that if the wire strands were cut by the screw would the remaining wires have created enough heat to melt and burn the plastic? Possibly not given that the oscillating motor is quite low current.
This box of stationary items came in with one of our e-waste recycling consignments.
It was going to be thrown out but our staff member said we would take it. It was unneeded due to a reduction in overseas student numbers and that is due to COVID-19.
