Recycling program overdue for household appliances

Many end-of-life whitegoods end up being placed in council clean-up collections, placing the financial and environmental burden on local councils.

In 2019, an estimated 360,000 tonnes of large household appliances and temperature exchange equipment entered the Australian market. At the end-of-life stage, this translates into nearly 200,000 tonnes of e-waste generated, comprising around 68% metals, 13% plastics, 4% glass and 15% other materials — some precious, hazardous or non-renewable.

While about 90% of used products are being collected, only 57% of the material (predominantly metals) is being recycled, with the rest of the material ending up in landfill.

Other materials like plastics and ozone-depleting gases in refrigerators and heat pump dryers can be difficult to recover, with only a handful of brands providing a take-back service for old appliances when a new product is being sold and delivered to a consumer.

“All appliance manufacturers and brands that place whitegoods on the Australian market need to take responsibility for their end-of-life recovery, rather than leaving that burden to councils and the community,” said Cr John Faker, Burwood Mayor and President, Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC).

With immediate action on product stewardship for large household appliances needed, the SSROC and the Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence have spearheaded a product stewardship project for large household appliances.

Funded by the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Sustainability Partnerships Program, the project focused on how to improve the low material and gas recovery rates and better understand the appetite and opportunities for stewardship initiatives.

Alexandra Geddes, Executive Director of Programs and Innovation at NSW EPA, said, “An important part of NSW’s transition to a circular economy is to ensure that products can be designed to reduce waste and pollution as well as repaired and recovered easily; we want to work with all sectors to keep materials circulating in the economy for longer.”

Economic modelling undertaken as part of the project showed that transferring financial responsibility to industry for the current collection and recycling costs for large house appliances would require an estimated levy on average of $37 per appliance (or about 2.58% of current retail price).

However, to increase repair and significantly increase material and gas recovery rates, the levy would need to be increased by $11 to $49 per appliance. This investment could create an estimated 496 jobs in the repair sector if progressed.

Interviews with the appliance industry were conducted as part of the project and found strong support for a stewardship scheme if it was co-designed with industry.

John Gertsakis, Director — Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence said, “The need for a regulated product stewardship program that enables more whitegoods to be repaired and recycled is well overdue in Australia, compared to Europe where the European Commission laws require manufacturers to fund and participate in repair and recycling schemes.”

The project recommends that the federal government work with manufacturers and brands to design and implement a producer responsibility regulation for large household appliances.

“We favour a co-regulatory approach where there is significant stakeholder engagement and industry involvement. We see this as a hallmark of a successful product stewardship scheme for large household appliances,” said Kurt Hegvold, chairperson — Coalition for Sustainable Solutions.

Opportunities also exist for the NSW Government to create a state-based producer responsibility regulation for large household appliances under the Product Lifecycle Responsibility Act 2025.

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