Panasonic to expand recycling programme in India

Panasonic India, which started recycling televisions voluntarily this year, today said it is expanding the recycling programme to other products as well, in line with its global strategy to emerge a complete green company by 2018.

"Going forward, we plan to start (recycling) for other products as well. This initiative is part of our aim to become a green company by 2018," Arjun Balakrishnan, director of the consumer durables firm, said in New Delhi.

Panasonic, which launched the green initiative in March this year in Chennai and Bangalore, will extend the programme to Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi soon, he said.

Balakrishnan did not give a time frame for extending the recycling programme to other products, but said Panasonic India is awaiting approval from the parent company.

He said the company has tied up with Bangalore-based E-Parisaraa Pvt Ltd for recycling old television sets collected through Panasonic exclusive outlets.

The company will soon launch awareness programmes across the country for its green campaign, he added.

Meanwhile, Panasonic India is planning to expand its product offering from Sanyo in order to boost volumes and achieve a turnover of Rs3,200 crore this fiscal.

Panasonic Corp, which bought Sanyo Corp for around $9 billion last year, currently sells batteries, projectors and solar lanterns from the Sanyo stable in India.