Which Companies Take Back Their TVs?

TV companies have fought producer takeback responsibility

Most of the computer companies have offered takeback programs for a few years now, where they will take back their old products from consumers for recycling.

But the TV companies have been slow to embrace the concept of “producer takeback.” In fact, they have opposed it. Until recently, virtually all of the TV companies were members of a national lobbying coalition that opposed state or federal legislation that would give the electronics companies any responsibility for paying for recycling their old products.  Instead, they supported legislation that would charge consumers recycling fees (like the California program) but that left them off the hook. This coalition has been led by Panasonic, Sharp and Philips, who have lobbied vigorously in many state legislatures on this issue.

Sony, LG, Samsung now have national programs take back TVs

But in 2007, Sony, Samsung and LG withdrew from the TV coalition, and began to publicly support producer takeback policies. In September of 2007, Sony was the first TV company to launch a national takeback program, free to consumers, for Sony TVs (as well as any other product with Sony’s name on it).  In August 2008,  LG Electronics, a large Korean TV company who owns the Zenith and GoldStar brands in the US, also launched a takeback program for those brands, using the same collection sites as Sony (with Waste Management).  In late August, Samsung – the largest TV seller in the world – announced that it will launch a new US takeback program in October of 2008.  

Panasonic, Sharp, Toshiba take back in some states

Panasonic, Sharp, and Toshiba have launched a new recycling company, called MRM. This was initially set up to comply with laws in certain states which require the companies to recycle their old products. In November 2008, MRM added some collection options in several more states, in addition to those required by law, and announced that they would eventually cover all 50 states (in three more years).

 Learn more about the TV takeback programs.

• LG
• Sony
• Samsung
• Panasonic/Sharp/Toshiba (no national program but avaiilable in some states)

TV Company Report Card

In November 2008, ETBC published a report card that grades the TV companies on their takeback efforts.

View it here.