Mahwah, N.J. — Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba said Thursday they will join a nationwide recycling initiative designed to give purchasers of each companies’ products the ability to have those items recycled at a growing list of collection centers around the county.
The companies said their nationwide consumer electronics recycling program, which is being coordinated by Electronics Manufacturers Recycling Management (MRM), will provide a free means of recycling old televisions and other consumer audio and video products.
The program will kick off in several states in November before expanding to all 50 states with hundreds of additional sites over the next three years. Products from all three companies will also be accepted at these locations, with potentially more to follow.
“In all aspects of our business, we continuously seek ways to reduce impact on the environment,” stated Doug Koshima, Sharp Electronics chairman. “Working through the MRM venture, Sharp, Panasonic and Toshiba are working to create an electronics recycling program that achieves the dual objectives of being easy and convenient for consumers, while offering the industry a path to efficient, environmentally sound recycling.”
“The focus of Panasonic’s new program will be on consumer convenience and environmentally sound recycling,” said Yoshi Yamada, Panasonic North America president. “The new national program both gives life to our customers’ recycling expectations and embodies our company’s commitment to responsible product lifecycle management.”
“Toshiba has a very firm commitment to the environment and to society,” said Maria Repole,” Toshiba corporate communications assistant VP. “This is one of the initiatives that we are taking to further our commitment to the environment while making it easier for consumers to recycle their televisions and consumer electronics products. We are very excited to be working in a collaborative effort with Sharp and Panasonic, and using MRM has really been advantageous to Toshiba.”
The companies will work together through Electronics MRM, which is a joint venture between Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba established in September 2007.
Beginning in November, more than 160 sites will be available in 10 states to drop off televisions and other consumer audio and video electronics products for free recycling. Along with MRM, the companies said they will continue to expand the program until its services cover all 50 states.
Sharp said it will also accept consumer drop-off of Sharp televisions and consumer electronics products for recycling at its headquarters in Mahwah, N.J.
A list of locations where Sharp products can be recycled by Nov. 1 is available on the MRM website at www.mrmrecycling.com.
Minneapolis-based MRM said it is seeking build sufficient volumes to maximize efficient collection by bringing together the electronic product manufacturing community into a voluntary national program to handle America’s e-waste recycling needs.
The initiative will enable MRM to expand its operations beyond its current compliance management activities in Minnesota and Texas. Now entering its second year of operations, MRM currently manages recycling services in both states for some 25 individual electronics manufacturers.
The first phase of the MRM nationwide ramp-up will kick off in November with management of electronics recycling for manufacturers in several additional states, including California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. MRM will continue its expansion until its services cover all 50 states. Additional details on MRM’s plans will be available in January 2009.
In this first phase of its expansion, MRM said it will utilize the services of two recyclers — CRT-Processing, based in Janesville, Wis., and ECO-International of Vestal, N.Y. In the initial phase, the MRM network will encompass more than 160 collection sites and several other collection partners across 10 states.
The MRM effort joins a similar initiative started in 2007 between
.
The company in partnership with U.S. Waste Management and its retail partners has collected over 560 tons of e-waste through more than 80 events nationwide, Sony said.
“Sony has led the industry in recycling to make it easy for consumers to dispose of their electronics products in an environmentally safe way,” said Mike Fasulo, Sony Electronics chief marketing officer and executive VP. “Our goal is for every pound of product we put out on the marketplace, we want to take a pound back. We’ve made great progress and we encourage all manufacturers to follow our lead.”
