1 Introduction
1.1 Background
The need to effectively and efficiently address end-of-life waste arising from electrical and electronic products is acknowledged as a significant imperative in need of industry, government and community action.
Evidence and activity worldwide is clearly indicating the need to develop sustainable solutions that can substantially reduce the life-cycle environmental impacts associated with the production and consumption of electrical and electronic products. This has been acknowledged through the Ministry for the Environment's discussion document on Product Stewardship and Water Efficiency Labelling.
It is expected that this project will contribute to the Ministry's policy development process with a view to developing a coherent, effective and enduring product stewardship policy for various product categories and waste streams in New Zealand, including the whiteware sector.
Product Ecology Pty Ltd (in association with Responsible Resource Recovery Ltd) was commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment to undertake the study.
1.2 Purpose and scope of the study
Based on the project brief:
"The Ministry for the Environment wants to reduce the amount of waste both generated and disposed of in New Zealand (refer The New Zealand Waste Strategy, 2002). Amongst other tools, it has recommended "product stewardship" to aid this, whereby producers, retailers and consumers take more responsibility for the amount of waste generated in a product's lifetime. The approach to date has been to encourage voluntary, industry-led product stewardship schemes.
In August 2005, the Ministry released a discussion paper to investigate modifications to this approach to assist the effectiveness, stability and uptake of these and future schemes. Before making recommendations to the Government on the adoption of a product stewardship policy, the Ministry wants to better understand the implications of the proposals for existing and potential schemes."
The project brief also clarifies the overall scope including key definitions:
"Priority for this case study is working through the performance and policy issues, rather than quantifying the problem or exact costs and benefits. "Whiteware" is defined as: (domestic) refrigerators/freezers, clothes dryers, washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, stoves, rangehoods, waste disposers, air conditioners/heat pumps, dehumidifiers and microwaves. Potential improvements should focus on the environmental consequences of the product's life in New Zealand, and design, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal options for which New Zealand industry or Government can reasonably influence.
This report will not address issues concerned with the energy or water efficiency policy. This report should highlight areas where refrigerant recovery requirements will potentially have an influence. The potential, approach or costs of any proposed scheme or scheme changes suggested by the report will not be binding for the sector or the Government."
1.3 Project objectives and terms of reference
The project objectives and terms of reference as outlined in the project brief are extensive and provided a very challenging set of activities given the timeline and resources. In particular, the project aimed to:
- under guidance of a sector group, study the issues associated with the environmental impact of the whiteware sector, case study any existing product stewardship schemes to address this and establish what assistance a national product stewardship policy could offer;
- formulate a process that results in a policy well matched to the needs of industry and assists industry groups in understanding what the implications are, if any, of that policy proposal for existing schemes.
Guided and informed by the sector group, the project was to address the following terms of reference:
- description and quantification of the environmental impact of the whiteware sector and the stakeholders involved;
- description of any current product stewardship schemes to address this problem;
- evaluation of how the current schemes perform (against policy objectives listed below) and their long-term stability (in the current policy environment);
- estimation of the potential performance and stability of the schemes (in the current policy environment) and the environmental and economic benefits (or costs) from achieving this potential;
- assessment, design and cost of the tools needed to achieve this potential;
- assessment of whether the availability of regulatory tools could further increase the potential performance and stability of the schemes and the environmental and economic benefits (or costs) from achieving this potential;
- if the potential improvement justifies it, the cost, timing and enforcement of any regulatory intervention.
1.4 Project methodology
The methodology adopted reflects a consultative approach. It aimed to facilitate the whiteware sector group to identify, discuss and analyse key policy issues affecting the development of product stewardship schemes and programmes for whiteware in New Zealand. The key elements of are:
- desktop review of literature and data;
- face-to-face interviews/meetings;
- focused follow-up;
- synthesis and analysis;
- draft report development including sector group feedback;
- final report preparation.
1.5 New Zealand policy context
The policy context for the conduct of the project is informed by three key Ministry for the Environment documents.
i) The New Zealand Waste Strategy, 2002.
ii) Product Stewardship and Water Efficiency Labelling, Discussion Document, 2005.
iii) Project Brief: Whiteware Sector Product Stewardship Study, 2006.
Collectively, these three documents provide the policy context within which the project has been undertaken. The Strategy provides the overarching rationale and goals as well as critical information and criteria in relation to prioritising action on waste avoidance and resource recovery.
The discussion document further explores the options and possibilities with a particular emphasis on the relevance, role and potential for applied product stewardship.
Most importantly, the discussion document provides a guiding definition for product stewardship as well as generic options for potential intervention.
The project brief outlines specific study objectives underpinned by the terms of reference, which provide further direction for the study's conduct and focus.
The elaboration of the term 'product stewardship' as per the discussion document represents a critical and guiding definition, which directly informed the study and served to focus the study process and content:
"Product stewardship is the term used to describe an approach whereby producers, importers, brand owners, retailers, consumers and other parties involved in the life cycle of a product accept a responsibility for the environmental impacts of the products through their life cycle. This can include upstream impacts from the choice of materials and the manufacturing process, through to downstream impacts from the use and disposal of products.
Product stewardship aims to encourage producers and other parties to internalise a substantial proportion of the environmental costs arising from the final disposal of their products. Internalising involves creating schemes that help to shift the costs of managing wastes from ratepayers and taxpayers to the producers and consumers. This ensures the costs of wastes get considered when purchase and production decisions are made. Product stewardship schemes can contribute to reduction in waste and to the recovery of materials from the waste stream."
