The Minister for the Environment, Marian Hobbs, has welcomed an initiative for a recycling scheme for mobile phone handsets, batteries and accessories.

It is being promoted by the Information Technology Association of New Zealand.

"This is an excellent example of extended producer responsibility," Marian Hobbs said. "The association is demonstrating in a very practical way their care for the environment by reducing the amount of waste going to our landfills. This includes the hazardous materials in the batteries.

“Electronic waste is apparently the fastest growing part of the American solid waste stream. The electronic industry in the United States has taken the lead on recycling PCs and other electronics. We will have to address the same issue here and my hope is that this initiative by ITANZ for mobile phones will be the forerunner for similar schemes in New Zealand, not only for electronic equipment but for other consumer items.

“With an increasingly throw away society we need to be able to recover and recycle more componentry to use our resources more wisely. In the future I hope schemes like this will be augmented by the use of mobile phones with reusable components.

"The association is working closely with the Ministry for the Environment in developing its plans and I look forward to a nationwide scheme once trials have been completed."

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