Government underfunding jeopardises recycling

green-party

Fri Jul 04 2014 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Government underfunding jeopardises recycling

Friday, 4 July 2014, 10:58 am
Press Release: Green Party

The Government’s underfunding of the TV Takeback scheme jeopardises the whole e-waste drop-off network across the country, the Green Party said today.

The TV Takeback scheme was put in place to deal with the glut of old TVs needing to be recycled arising from the digital switch over. RCN E-Waste Limited the company that processed the TV’s collected for recycling has recently been put into liquidation.

“It costs money to recycle all TVs. Right now TV importers and manufactures are passing the burden of recycling their products onto taxpayers and recycling companies,” Green Party waste spokesperson Denise Roche said.

“Community recyclers have been left with hundreds of old TVs, and out of pocket, and a TV recycling company has gone bust because the Government has not paid for the full cost of transporting and recycling TVs during the scheme.

“Linking the TV Takeback scheme to the digital rollout meant the design of the scheme was rushed. While it ensured thousands of TVs didn’t end up being dumped, the costs varied across the country, and the recyclers were left to carry the costs.

“We need to include the cost of recycling TVs when they are first bought, that way we are not left with old TVs that no one wants to deal with.

“By declaring TVs a priority product and introducing an advance disposal fee on TVs, the recycling cost would be shared between producers, retailers and consumers,” said Ms Roche.

ends

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