The company’s pledge comes as the Federal Government passed the Product Stewardship Bill, which will introduce a national recycling scheme for products such as televisions and computers.

Panasonic Australia managing director Steve Rust says engineers from the Panasonic Eco Technology Centre (PETEC) in Japan would be available to Government and industry leaders to help ensure world’s best practice being adopted in Australia.

“This is a landmark moment for the consumer electronics industry and we want to make sure that the program is executed as smoothly as possible. We’re pleased to share our global expertise to help Australia quickly become a leader in e-recycling,” Steve says.

Panasonic boasts a world-class recycling and research and development facility at the Panasonic Eco Technology Centre (PETEC) in the Hyogo Prefecture in Japan. PETEC processes more than 700,000 units of televisions, air-conditioners, refrigerators/freezers and washing machines each year.

Steve says Panasonic will also begin rolling out a program in support of the scheme which will include a consumer education program as part of its support for the new scheme.

“E-waste has emerged as one of the most significant environmental issues of modern times with more than 1.5 million televisions ending up in landfill each year,” Steve says.

“Panasonic has been campaigning for more than five years to have a national scheme put in place and was a foundation member of the industry lobbying group Product Stewardship Australia. We’re delighted to finally see this program come to fruition.”

In Australia, the company is also a member of the Australian Packaging Covenant. In addition, Panasonic has successfully diverted in excess of 79% of its business e-waste from landfill.

More details on Panasonic’s environmental initiatives can be found at: www.panasonic.com.au.