Product Stewardship
As a key advocate in the product stewardship sector, ANZRP creates awareness of the importance of managing a product’s environmental impact throughout all stages of its life cycle, including end-of-life. Product stewardship is an environmental management strategy that means whoever designs, produces, sells, or uses a product takes a share of responsibility for minimising its environmental impact.
We should all be product stewards
ANZRP works closely with other sustainability organisations such as Planet Ark and other product stewardship programs such as Mobile Muster, B-cycle and Cartridges 4 Planet Ark to raise public and business awareness of the importance of recycling. Together we are creating the e-waste solutions for now and into the future.
E-waste — the fastest growing waste stream in the world
In Australia, e-waste is growing three times faster than any other type of waste. So what happens to our end-of-life computers and TVs? We don’t want them ending up in landfill where we will lose the valuable resources, such as copper, steel and aluminium that they contain or where they can negatively impact our environment.
Part of ANZRP’s vision is to create a community which collects, processes and safely recycles e-waste for responsible environmental outcomes. We do this by offering a free and simple way for Australians to safely recycle their e-waste, via our TechCollect e-waste recycling service. Find out where your nearest TechCollect site is to drop off your unwanted e-waste here.
We only partner with recyclers who operate to the highest Australian environmental and work, health and safety standards. We ensure a high recovery rate of the materials recycled.
We consistently represent our members in product stewardship advocacy, and are advocating for the expansion of products in scope under the NTCRS, which currently requires TVs, printers, computers and accessories to be recycled. You can view our White Paper here.
Government fact sheets
The following Fact Sheets have been developed by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) to assist in better understanding the Recycling and Waste Reduction (Product Stewardship – Televisions and Computers) Rules 2021 and the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS).
- Overview of the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme
- National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme – Guide for Local Government
- The role of recyclers in the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme
- National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme – a guide for householders
- National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme: Co-regulatory Arrangements
RESOURCES
- ANZRP White Paper NTCRS Scope Expansion 2020
- ANZRP response to Act and NTCRS Consultation Paper June 2018
- ANZRP response to VIC e-waste landfill ban January 2018
- ANZRP White Paper 2017 – Review of the Product Stewardship Act 2011 and NTCRS
- Operational Review of the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme
- Global e-waste systems: Insights for Australia from other developed countries – A report for ANZRP by the Economist Intelligence Unit
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the NTCRS?
The National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS) is a scheme under the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020 that requires manufacturers and importers of televisions and computers above set thresholds to fund the collection and recycling of end-of-life e-waste.
What is the Recycling and Waste Reduction ACT 2020?
On 16 December 2020 the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020 (RAWR Act) came into effect, repealing and replacing the Product Stewardship Act.
The RAWR Act provides a new framework for managing Australia’s recycling and waste reduction objectives. A key objective of the Act is to encourage the development of a circular economy, including through product stewardship arrangements, that maximises the continued use of products and waste materials over their life cycle.
The RAWR Act provides for 3 levels of product stewardship: voluntary, co-regulatory and mandatory.
The NTCRS is a Co-regulatory model where Government sets the policy and the outcomes. Industry, via a Co-regulatory Arrangement, must meet their outcomes. ANZRP was formed as a non-profit, industry for industry model in response to the compliance and sustainability objectives of the Product Stewardship Act 2011 (now replace by the RAWR Act). We operate the TechCollect product stewardship program and are the market leader for the safe and rsponsible collection and recycling of e-waste in Australia.
To learn more about the RAWR Act please visit https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/department-agriculture-water-and-environment/reporting-year/2020-21-27
What is product stewardship?
Product stewardship is an approach to managing the impacts of products and materials throughout their lifecycle, including end-of-life. It acknowledges that those involved in producing, selling, using and disposing of products and materials have a shared responsibility to ensure they are managed in a way that reduces their impact on the environment, health and safety.
What is e-stewardship?
What is e-waste?
E-waste, or electronic waste, refers to any discarded electrical or electronic device. This includes a wide range of items such as outdated computers, broken TVs, used batteries, and damaged printers. Essentially, if it plugs in or runs on batteries and is no longer in use, it is considered e-waste.