TV Takeback Scheme

When I presented this motion to the chamber, it was amended to include all e-waste. The motion got up. E-waste is a very large problem in landfill for local councils. These products leak very toxic chemicals that are damaging to our health, the local environment and become expensive for ratepayers to clean up once the landfill site is decommissioned. Also, with the arrival of digital tv, the rate of disposal of these old pre-loved units needs to be well matched by efforts to recycle them.

Geraldine

To: Chief Executive Officer
Please note that it is my intention to propose the following motion at the Ordinary Meeting of the Council to be held on April 28th 2009
Subject: TV Takeback Scheme

Motion
That Council resolves to:
Support the introduction of a national ‘TV Take Back’ scheme to ensure old televisions are recycled; and
Write to the Victorian Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Innovation, Gavin Jennings, and the Federal Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett, calling for a decision at the May 2009 Meeting of the Environment Protection & Heritage Council to introduce a national ‘TV Take Back’ scheme; and
Sponsor a motion at the May 2009 Municipal Association of Victoria State Council in support of a national extended responsibility scheme on televisions.
Ask the Western Alliance for Greenhouse Action to prepare a letter of support, with all WAGA councils as signatories, supporting the ‘TV Take Back’ scheme on behalf of the western region

Background
Environment Victoria is asking Local Governments across Victoria to support the introduction of a ‘TV Take Back’ scheme in Australia.

As the digital age spreads to television, people are upgrading, and old TVs are appearing on nature strips all over Melbourne. The cleaning up of hard rubbish and illegal dumping, including discarded TVs is costly to Council.

There is no systematic recycling of televisions in Australia. All but a handful of old TVs are crushed to pieces and buried in landfill.

Putting TVs in landfill is dumb. We can, and should be recycling TVs to recover the energy and materials that goes into making them, and to stop toxins from leaching through landfill.

An estimated 1.9 million televisions entered Australia in the last 12 months. In total, there is an estimated 17 million televisions in landfill or on their way to landfill. Analogue transmission signals are timetabled to finish at the end of 2013 which is likely to further increase the turn over and disposal of televisions and related equipment.

Brimbank is already a leader
Brimbank and Whitehorse are the only Councils in Victoria that run a TV recycling programme.

The expansion of the Detox Your Home Facility to allow residents free disposal of E-Waste, which also includes all types of TVs, occurred in February 2009.

The recycling process has the TVs dismantled into parts (i.e. glass, plastic, lead & steel) and the materials are then sent off to recyclers that convert the material into other products.

Industry supports a TV recycling scheme
The Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) said in a 2007 report that:
“The potential market for recycled materials from household e-waste in Australia is conservatively estimated at over $50 million per year, reaching $500 million per year for precious metal rich equipment such as mobiles.”

The E-Waste Solution
In the absence of regulation or legislation to ensure a level playing field, there is little incentive for socially responsible manufacturers to introduce their own recycling or take-back programs. For this reason, the major brand owners for televisions are actively pursuing environmentally-responsible regulation of their own industry in Australia.
Most of these brand owners have experience with the European Union’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, which has been in place since 2002. It places the responsibility for disposal of end of life products on manufactures and requires consumers of to be able to return WEEE “at least free of charge”.
The Customs Import Model (CIM) or an Advanced Recycling Scheme Fee (ARF) are both take back schemes that would provide comprehensive and fair coverage of television manufacturers in the Australian market. The CIM places a charge at the point of import whereas an ARF places the fee at the point of sale. Both schemes would also raise funds for recycling from the producers and consumers of products and would not require any taxpayer contribution.
Victoria is well-placed to benefit from the development of a national take back scheme for e-waste. Two of Australia’s leading e-waste recyclers have large operations located in Metropolitan Melbourne - SIMS Metal Management in Braeside, and MRI Australia in Campbellfield. Some of the world’s best e-waste recycling technology was also developed in Melbourne, at AUSMELT’s Dandenong facility.