Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Royal Philips Electronics today announced further plans to better enable consumers to recycle end-of-life Philips electronics products.
Following a recent and thorough review of its recycling activities, Philips has decided to strengthen its approach through the following initiatives:
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Philips will start pilot projects for voluntary product recycling in 2008 in India and early 2009 in Brazil and Argentina, markets currently not governed by electronic waste legislation, or where legislation is planned but not yet enacted. These pilots will facilitate and provide valuable experience on the infrastructure required to set up quality electronics recycling systems in these countries. This experience will also set the stage for potential further roll-out in other countries where applicable.
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In North America, Japan and amongst the 27 European Union member countries - where legislation already provides for recycling schemes - Philips will work closely with other stakeholders such as manufacturers, national and local governments, retailers and recycling operators, to drive for higher collection results and to improve the performance monitoring of these schemes.
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Philips will also improve the information available on its website to help consumers return their expired Philips products to the appropriate collection points.
With these initiatives, Philips commits to contribute to an acceleration of collective recycling schemes, involving all stakeholders such as producers, recycling operators and governments. Philips is convinced that such schemes ultimately will deliver better results than individual initiatives. Philips also welcomes the support of Non-Governmental Organizations, as it believes they have a significant part to play in encouraging consumers to bring back their expired products for recycling.
Philips has pioneered product take-back and recycling since the mid-1990s, with a proven track record in creating systems that work in collaboration with all stakeholders.
In 2007, Philips won Wal-Mart’s 2007 Sustainable Engagement Award in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico for its TV trade-in offers in Mexico and Brazil. To enable this, Philips organized a trade-in scheme with Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart. Philips also ranked as the global category leader in the sector of Personal and Household Goods in the 2007 Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, outperforming 135 direct competitors.
Information about existing product recycling schemes can be found on the Philips website at www.philips.com/sustainability.
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