eWaste Trip

I missed the last one, but finally I made it to the recycling eWaste collection day. It is run every quarter by Marrickville Council. I took my old microwave (very old and no longer used as it does not fit in the microwave hole) and the old oil heater on the radical design trailer behind the trike. The trailer is for camping and was not really suited for cargo. I will have to make something to fix this. But it did the job. I used some cardboard to protect the trailer cover from the cargo. It was very hard work carrying the microwave down the stairs. All in all I was happy. Though there are some changes I am going to have to make.

There were some issues:

1. There is a lack of attachment points on the trailer. I was able to use the elastic strap to create one and used the tow bar for the rest and a bit of creative rope tying.
2. It has drizzled all morning. I experienced quite a bit of wheel slip from my drive wheel heading up the driveway, especially when I was at the peak pare of my power in the pedal cycle.
3. This was easily the heaviest load I have ever had on the trailer. The web site said it can cope with over 40kg. I do not know the actual weight, but there was quite a bit of sinusoidal rebalancing and drag changed going on. I think that this was probably on the concrete part of the road the road where there is a bump at the end of every block of concrete. I certainly knew the trailer was there when it was loaded.
4. On one bit of the road with serious camber, the trailer load moved tot the left (which was the down hill side). This was aided by my use of plastic covered cardboard which was quite slippery. I had to stop twice as the load was ribbing on the left tyre side wall.

When I arrived at the recycling centre there was a long queue of cars, though it had grown substantially by the time I left. As had been mentioned by another rider, they were quite pleased and impressed to see me. I was able to use the fast queue as I did not have any chemical waste. The people at the centre unloaded my two items into their shipping container. I did not ask where they send the containers. I had my photo taken, took a photo and headed off back home. It is much easier when you do not have 20 odd kg (or more) strapped to the trailer.