tv take back scheme

report from the roundtable - 28th April
Environment Victoria are seeking support for a campaign for a national program on a TV Take Back scheme. It is a very worthwhile campaign and I was pleased to bring it to the attention of councillors at Yarra Ranges by moving the following motion:

That Council:
1. Support the introduction of a national “TV Take Back” scheme to ensure old televisions are recycled.
2. 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.
3. Submit a motion at the May 2009 Municipal Association of Victoria State Council in support of a national extended responsibility scheme on televisions.

How many of these are in landfills across the country? We can and should be recycling our TVs to recover the energy and materials that goes into making them, and to stop toxins going into landfill.

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In speaking to the motion I explained that the changeover to the digital age for televisions had seen an increase in the amount of television sets thrown out. Certainly the recent hard waste collection in my local area had many, many televisions out on the naturestrip. The tragedy at the moment is that televisions are currently disposed of in landfill sites.

E-waste is growing at three times the rate of general waste even though there is a significant market opportunity for recycling old TVs. A recent study by VECCI conservatively indicated that the e-waste recycling market was worth around $50million per annum.

Recycling old TVs would be of great benefit by removing heavy metals from our landfill sites and recycling would also be enable recovery of some of the more scarce materials that go into the make up of televisions.

A TV Take Back Scheme fits well within the aspirations of our community which is well articulated in Vision2020, our community wants to work to a Zero waste society and a recyling scheme like this is one of the steps along the way to achieving that goal.

I am pleased to say that my motion was supported unanimously and I look forward to hearing how the motion to support the TV Tack Back Scheme goes at the upcoming Municipal Association of Victoria State Council meeting in May.