Pizza Pizza expands Slices for Devices electronics recycling program
Pizza Pizza is again offering free pizza slices for Canadians who drop off old electronics for recycling in April, expanding the program this year to let companies and organizations participate.
This is the 12th year of the Slices for Devices program, which runs each April to honour Earth Month in partnership with electronics recycling service GreenTec.
Traditionally, individual customers have been able drop off up to four small devices for recycling at 400 Pizza Pizza locations in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. They can get a free slice of pepperoni or cheese pizza in exchange for:
- Mobile phones.
- Digital cameras.
- MP3 players.
- Handheld gaming devices like Nintendo 2DS or 3DS and PlayStation Vita.
This year, companies and organizations are also being invited to drop off larger devices, including:
- Desktop computers.
- Laptops.
- CPU Towers.
- Computer and TV LCD displays.
- Speakers.
Rather than individual slices, Pizza Pizza is offering them a gift card toward their next pizza party.
Cambridge, Ont.-based Greentec recycles some devices and refurbishes others for resale. The company says it will donate the proceeds from reburbishment to the Children's Miracle Network.
According to Pizza Pizza, its annual program has collected over 14,000 devices in the past 11 years.
3%-7% of e-waste ends in trash
Many electronics contain toxic metals and shouldn't be disposed of in the trash. Instead, they can be returned to some retailers or dropped off at an e-waste depot in some cities.
According to Statistics Canada's 2011 Households and the Environment Survey, about 46 per cent of households had stockpiled e-waste to dispose of at the time of the survey.
The survey showed that on average about three to seven per cent of electronics were put in the garbage, although the percentage was much higher in some provinces. In New Brunswick, for example, 20 per cent of households put old computers in the garbage, and 15 per cent of households put old TV and computer displays in the trash.
