Tuesday, April 28, 2009

What are Manufacturers Doing About E-waste?

The Electronics Manufacturers Coalition for Responsible Recycling (Coalition) represents sixteen of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world who have come together to support the use of an advance-recycling fee (ARF) to pay for a consumer electronics-recycling program. The coalition members are Canon, Epson, Hitachi, IBM, JVC, LG, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Sony, Thompson, and Toshiba. The Coalition supports an ARF because experience in California, a number of European countries and some Canadian provinces has clearly shown that an ARF provides a sustainable and adequate source of funds to local governments and recyclers for recycling end of life electronics in the most cost-effective manner possible while a maintaining level playing field in the market. Many states currently use ARF type funding mechanisms for lead acid batteries, tires and beverage containers.