In the last 10 years, the rate of e-waste generated each year by Australians has more than doubled. We all have a part to play in taking responsibility for the waste we produce.
E-stewardship means improving the environmentally sound management of electrical and electronic products throughout their life.
It is the shared responsibility of designers, manufacturers, importers, retailers, consumers, recyclers and governments. The end result? Less waste and more recovery of valuable resources.
Consumer electronics stewardship discussion paper submissions
The department would like to thank everyone who provided a submission to the ‘Stewardship for Consumer and Other Electrical and Electronic Products’ through the Have Your Say portal. The portal has now closed. The department will collate the submissions we received and provide them to Government for initial consideration in March 2022.
We acknowledge the COVID pandemic has had a significant impact on industry and business which may have affected your capacity to write a submission. As your contribution to this discussion is important to us and to the broader ongoing consultation process, the department will accept late submissions and further feedback throughout March 2022. You can request an extension by emailing writ@awe.gov.au. These submissions will be conveyed to Government.
Please email your submissions and any further enquiries to writ@awe.gov.au.
The department wishes to thank you for your time in providing your thoughts and insights.
E-Product Stewardship in Australia Report
The department commissioned Iceni and Lifecycles to undertake modelling to develop the quantitative foundation to inform future policy development actions.
Executive Report (PDF - 2.18 MB)
Executive Report (DOCX - 4.7 MB)
Evidence Report (PDF - 6.91 MB)
Evidence Report (DOCX - 6.31 MB)
E-Stewardship Model (XLSX - 12.7 MB)
Lifecycles updated an earlier model with the latest data to provide up-to-date evaluations of the amounts of different e-products placed on the market and e-wastes generated annually in Australia now and into the future.
Lifecycles also extended the model with detailed breakdowns of the materials in different product categories to estimate the value of materials: both in terms of dollars and embodied greenhouse gas emissions.
The original model was developed for a Sustainability Victoria investigation of e-waste flows and market in Victoria in 2015. It was later updated and used to support a cost-benefit analysis of Victoria’s ban on e-waste to landfill and the last two versions of the national waste report and Australian Bureau of Statistics waste account.