Recycling scheme for Australia's e-waste gets across-the-board thumbs up

Recycling scheme for Australia's e-waste gets across-the-board thumbs up

Federal, state and territory environment ministers meeting in Hobart, the capital of Australia's island state of Tasmania, have claimed a breakthrough on recycling after agreeing to a national scheme to keep electronic waste mainly from televisions and computers from landfill.

The details have yet to be spelt out but the scheme is likely to involve a levy on electronic goods to pay for collection and recycling.

It has been estimated that the average Australian household has seven television and computer screens. According to the Australian government only about 4 per cent of e-waste is re-cycled with the majority ending up in landfill.

In a rare day of agreement, the environment protection and heritage council also lent support to recycle tyres and potentially toxic mercury used in energy-saving fluorescent lamps.

However, there was little discussion on limiting the use of lightweight plastic bags, despite findings by environmental groups suggesting that 83 per cent of the people wanted them banned.

Victoria was represented at the meeting by planning minister Justin Madden. The state had pushed for a national 10 per cent bag levy run by retailers. It had promised a joint proposal with three other states and territories but the proposal has got delayed.

Federal evironment mnister, Peter Garrett said Australians had given a clear message for reducing e-waste. The design of the scheme would be finalised in the next meeting to scheduled for November.

Green groups have called the meeting a step forward.

Environment Victoria campaigner Fraser Brindley said that the groups looked to some concrete decisions by the end of the year so that Australia could take advantage of the green jobs opportunities available in the recycling industry.

Though the scheme has been dubbed an E-scheme under which computers, TVs and other electronic waste would be recycled, the scheme does cover other things besides such as car tyres though there is nothing electronic about them.

According to environment groups if all the schemes were to go ahead as planned 1 million tonnes of waste could be recycled instead of ending up in landfill.

The schemes would also create 3,000 to 4,000 new jobs.

Environment groups say that the scheme is not merely a bunch of token initiatives and if the Environment and Heritage Protection Council can deliver the five reforms it is talking about it would take the biggest single step forward in waste and recycling in Australia's history.

Garrett described the meeting about E-waste as a breakthrough.

New South Wales Environment Minister Carmel Tebbutt said the plan was to next involve and work with appropriate sectors.

She said that the ministry wanted to work with industry to get the best possible scheme that would deliver on the needs of the community and make sure that materials involved in both computers and TVs were re-used and recycled in the most efficient and effective way possible.