Sharp Report Card

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The Talk: Sharp spent years lobbying against producer responsibility at the state and federal level. Sharp still doesn’t publicly support the concept of producer responsibility. 
Grade D
The Walk: In January 2008, Sharp (along with Toshiba and Panasonic) launched a recycling company called MRM to comply with state mandated recycling programs in MN and TX (monitors only). On October 30, MRM announced the addition of 8 more states beginning November 1, although most of the added sites are in states where they are legally required to recycle starting next year. 

 

Category Possible Points Points Earned Details
Scope of US takeback recycling program 38 7  
Offers free convenient national takeback recycling for their branded TVs for individual consumers 25 5 Sharp has announced that it has launched a national takeback program under its MRM recycling company, but actually, the program only operates in 10 states. They said it will take them 3 years to reach all 50 states so we can only give them partial credit here.
Most of the sites are in states with laws that require takeback – including 69 sites in Minnesota, whose program is in effect, 15 sites in Connecticut, and 35 in Oregon – both states whose programs start in January.  That means that MRM’s announcement of a “national program” consists of only 11 new regular collection sites (plus some events).  
Sites in additional states as of Nov 1:
CA 2
CT  15  (Takeback required as of Jan 09)
MN 69 (Takeback law in effect)
NH  3
NJ 1 (only for events)
NY 2
OR 35 (Takeback required as of Jan 09)
PA 3 collection sites, 5 event locations
TX 2 (Takeback law in effect for monitors)
WI  1
Offers free national takeback recycling for a larger scope of their branded products in addition to TVs 8 2 Sharp’s media release says they collect all Sharp consumer electronics at their sites, although this info should be more visible on the MRM site.  Partial credit here because program is not yet national.
Offers free national takeback recycling for other customers – not just individual consumers 3 0  Website talks about consumers recycling home products only.
Offers to take products from other brands for free or a nominal charge 2 0  The website makes no mention of taking back any other manufacturer products.
Provides responsible recycling 37 8
  
Signed Manufacturers Commitment to Responsible Electronics Recycling or other public commitment to not export to developing countries/use prison labor/landfill/incinerate toxic materials* 15
0
No
Other public commitment to not export to developing countries/use prison labor/landfill/incinerate toxic materials* 5
 2
 The MRM website says they prohibit use of prison labor, which gets one point. It also says, “We will not allow the export of whole products for recycling” which gets one point, but that statement is a far cry from the kind of clear ban on exporting toxics to developing nations.
Publishes full recycling standards on company website 5 0
 No standards posted.
Use only E-Stewards as recyclers 5 1  One vendor in the e-steward processs.
Discloses recycling and refurbishing vendors on company website 5 5
  MRM says they work with only 2 companies, CRT Processing, and Eco International. 
Discloses countries where final disposal/recycling of toxic materials occurs 7 0
  No information on final destination.
Volumes and visibility 15 3  
Has ambitious collection and recycling goals expressed as a percent of sales or other measures
 2 0   No stated goals.
Significant volume of e-waste collected and recycled nationally and publicly reported as a percent of sales or other measure 10
 1  No reporting as percent of sales or other benchmark. They get one point for reporting, but the statements they do make are confusing.
Sharp’s global website indicates that in 2007, they collected 118.5 tons in MN, and 57.6 tons in Maine.  
Sharp’s press statements say,
“In 2007 alone, over 100 Sharp supported events collected and recycled 2.25 million pounds of electronics.” But these were co-sponsored by other companies as well, so it’s hard to find Sharp specific data.
We’d like some clear reporting on volumes each year that allow comparison of each company’s recycling efforts.
Easy to find recycling information on company website 3 2  Their website has links to various state government websites, but has nothing about any TTE or RCA program.
Public policy
 10 0  From home page, click on Environment, and then you can find the MRM info if you scroll way down.
Statement of support and active work in support of producer takeback recycling legislation with performance goals for manufacturers at the state level 5 0 None. In the past, this company has lobbied vigorously against producer responsibility.
Statement of support and active work on federal legislation to ban the export of toxic electronic waste to developing nations 5 0  No statement
  Total Possible
Total Earned
 
TOTAL SCORE
100
18
  D

Company Websites

http://www.mrmrecycling.com/
http://www.sharpusa.com/about/AboutEnvironment/0,1331,,00.html
http://sharp-world.com/corporate/eco/csr_report/index.html