Take Back My TV
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Sony Report Card
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| The Talk: | After years of lobbying against producer takeback on the state and federal level, Panasonic has recently added the following statement to its global website: “Panasonic is one of the leading manufacturers supporting the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and is earnestly promoting product recycling worldwide.” This is a significant change of position for this company which spent years promoting policies to charge consumers recycling fees. |
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|---|---|---|
| The Walk: | Panasonic (along with Toshiba and Sharp) recently launched a recycling company called MRM, which was launched in January 2008 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. Panasonic is promising more details about their program in January 2009. |
| Category | Possible Points | Points Earned | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scope of US takeback recycling program | 38 | 33 |
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| Offers free convenient national takeback recycling for their branded TVs for individual consumers | 25 | 21 | Sony has a national program, with collections sites across the country. But many more sites are needed before this can be a “convenient” program. |
| Offers free national takeback recycling for a larger scope of their branded products in addition to TVs | 8 | 8 |
Sony takes back all their electronic products. |
| Offers free national takeback recycling for other customers – not just individual consumers | 3 | 2 | Consumers may drop off up to 5 Sony-branded items at a time. |
| Offers to take products from other brands for free or a nominal charge | 2 | 2 |
Sony does take back other company products for a fee. |
| Provides responsible recycling | 37 | 21 |
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| Signed Manufacturers Commitment to Responsible Electronics Recycling | 15 | 15 | "[Sony] was the first to sign the Electronics TakeBack Coalition's "Manufacturers' Commitment to Responsible E-Waste Recycling". This is a commitment to a sound recycling process restricting the export of toxic components to developing countries. |
| 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 | Pledged to ETBC to have its vendors apply to be E-Stewards, but info not on any of Sony's websites. Asked Waste Management Recycle America to go through E-Steward review process, currently underway. |
| Discloses recycling and refurbishing vendors on company website | 5 | 5 | Sony works with Waste Management’s Recycle America company as its processor. |
| Discloses countries where final disposal/recycling of toxic materials occurs | 7 | 0 | No information on destinations |
| Volumes and visibility | 15 | 6 | |
| Has ambitious collection and recycling goals expressed as a percent of sales or other measures |
2 | 1 | “[Sony] aims to eventually provide a collection center located within 20 miles of 95% of the country's population. The company's goal is to recycle one pound of old consumer electronics equipment for every pound of new products . |
| Significant volume of e-waste collected and recycled nationally and publicly reported as a percent of sales or other measure | 10 |
4 | In 88 events, Sony collected 11.9 million pounds. (This includes meeting state obligations in MN.) Not clear what amounts were collected via sites. |
| Easy to find recycling information on company website | 3 | 1 | From Sony.com it’s hard to find the recycling site, which lives on the Sony Style site. On Sonystyle.com, searching on “recycling” does not find it. You have to click on “Discover” section to bring up recycling page. This is NOT user friendly. |
| Public policy |
10 | 3 | |
| Statement of support and active work in support of producer takeback recycling legislation with performance goals for manufacturers at the state level | 5 | 3 | Sony.com has a statement of support for producer takeback recycling. Sony sent a letter in support of the NJ producer takeback bill, but there is no record on its website for doing so. |
| Statement of support and active work on federal legislation to ban the export of toxic electronic waste to developing nations | 5 | 0 |
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| Total Possible |
Total Earned |
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| TOTAL SCORE |
100
|
61 |
B- |
Press Coverage
Electronics Recycling - Who’s Responsible?
Recycling Today12-29-09 -- As the lawsuit challenging New York City’s electronics take-back law prepares for opening arguments in mid-January, industry associations and electronics recycling advocates wonder what effect the court’s ruling will have on the future of producer responsibility.
A Green Way to Dump Low-Tech Electronics
The New York Times06-30-09 -- The Environmental Protection Agency estimates 99.1 million televisions sit unused in closets and basements across the country. Consumer response to recycling has been enormous in states where the laws have taken effect.
LCD and plasma TV sales brighten retail picture
Los Angeles Times06-29-09 -- Slashed prices, the digital transition and a budget-prompted tendency to spend more time at home motivate consumers to upgrade their televisions.
