Panasonic supports Govt. plans for action on e-waste

Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, announced in November, that the Government was backing a national waste program. The EPHC is currently compiling a report to inform the development of the policy.

Panasonic believes that the Government policy processes should be accelerated with a view to providing consumers with responsible disposal options that benefit the environment.

The company has been running a recycling scheme in Japan for more than seven years and has a technological recycling centre outside Osaka to deal with the issue.

“Panasonic will offer to share its expertise and resources with all levels of government to ensure that any proposed scheme dealing with end-of-life consumer electronics is effective and sustainable,” said Steve Rust, managing director, Panasonic Australia.

“We have experts in recycling in Japan who have the experience and the knowledge to be able to provide critical advice and information.

“We would really want to see a national program underpinned by safety net regulation operational within the next two years. It is estimated that two million old televisions will end up in Australian landfill this year alone,” he added.

The Panasonic Eco-Technology Center (PETEC) in Japan processes approximately 700,000 units of TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators/freezers and washing machines each year and recycles over 50 percent of the materials recovered from these products.

Currently only a few, smaller scale e-waste recycling programs are being run in Australia and these fail to deal with the volumes of e-waste currently going to landfill.