$30 levy on TVs is price for e-waste

New Zealand - Television manufacturers have proposed a levy of about $30 on imported televisions sets to pay for the cost of recycling, and an industry agreement on how to pay for the environmentally-safe disposal of unwanted computers looks within reach.

The Consumer Electronics Association and the Retailers Federation are working with the Environment Ministry to establish product stewardship schemes for electronic waste.

That comes ahead of a new law, which received its second reading in Parliament on Thursday, that would let industry bodies and the ministry impose mandatory recycling levies.

Two options look likely to be put out for public consultation. One would see Customs collect a flat- rate levy of $30 on the 250,000 televisions imported into New Zealand each year. The other would see a levy of $40 on television sets with screens larger than 30 inches, and a $10 levy on smaller TVs.

The 20,000 televisions imported each year that do not comply with an international standard limiting the use of hazardous substances could face an additional $5 levy.

The import levy could later be extended to gaming consoles, DVD players, set-top boxes and other consumer electronics items.

All 11 major television makers, including Sony, Panasonic, Samsung and Philips, have backed the proposal. Retailers The Warehouse, Farmers, Progressive Enterprises and Foodstuffs are also supporting it.

Consumer Electronics Association executive director Garth Wyllie says the television levy could be in place by the end of the year, but only if the Waste Minimisation Bill is passed within the next few months and Customs agrees to collect the levy.

"It would be almost impossible to get a scheme implemented on a purely voluntary basis. We are reliant on the legislative backing being put in place to make sure you don't end up with a lot of free riders."

The levy would raise several million dollars each year to pay for recycling and would increase by 4 per cent a year to account for inflation and the likely depreciation of the Kiwi dollar.

The association estimates 168,000 TV sets are retired each year, but says the number could spike because of the uptake of digital television.

The body set up to run the product stewardship scheme for televisions could also manage a similar scheme for computers. But Mr Wyllie, who chairs the e-waste working group that is devising both schemes, says collecting a levy on computers would be more complicated because some are assembled in New Zealand.

Under one model sketched out by the working party, computer importers and local assemblers would need to register with a central authority in order to sell computers.

Instead of paying a recycling levy in advance, they would factor the cost of the product stewardship scheme into their sales prices and pay for recycling costs after unwanted computers had been dropped off at collection points.

An upfront fee and a deposit might still be required to set up the national registry and ensure funds were available to recycle products made by companies that later went out of business.

Television and computer makers would be allowed to take back and deal with their own unwanted products and bill the scheme agent, instead of leaving them to be dealt with by appointed recyclers.

This would reward manufacturers that designed products that were easy to recycle.

Major computer brands are supportive, Mr Wyllie says, but agreement has yet to be reached with "white box" manufacturers that supply 40 per cent of the market.

People would probably be able to drop off televisions and computers at a common recycling station at council dumps, he says.

It would be up to local authorities to decide when to ban e-waste from landfills.

"That would be the ultimate aim, to say 'no longer is this an acceptable practice'."

It is inevitable the schemes would push up the price of televisions and computers, though perhaps not by the full amount of the levy, he says.

Mr Wyllie says imposing a higher levy that allowed a rebate to be paid to consumers when they dropped off TVs and computers might be an option, if consumers required more of a carrot to take part in the recycling schemes. But he says that is not part of the current proposal.

Source: The Dominion Post