An announcement by consultants Meinhardt Infrastructure & Environment Group that the industry association is co-operating with Environment Australia to establish the program, has taken the association by surprise.
The AIIA said it hadn't announced the program as it is still in the early planning phase. The association is yet to determine who would partner the program and was still examining strategies to conduct it.
Environment Australia, RMIT and other environmental groups have been collaborating to establish product stewardship agreements to deal with industrial waste problems anticipated from the disposal of rapidly growing imports of PC-related products.
According to the AIIA, the recycling project exists alongside these efforts.
"On issues to do with [PC] collection, the industry needs to work collaboratively," said a spokesperson for the AIIA. "That's why the AIIA has stepped-in to assist".
The AIIA said that its pilot program would differ from those recently conducted by the Australian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers' Association. While that program assessed the use of community drop-off points for used VCRs and TVs, the AIIA said that it would explore a range of collection models.
A spokesperson for the association said that the program would examine options requiring greater retailer participation but did not elaborate further. Nor could the spokesperson say whether the cost of maintaining the program would be passed on to consumers with a product tarrif.
Included in recommendations delivered by Meinhardt at the opening of the Enviro 2002 conference was a call to ban the dumping of computer equipment in landfill. It also called for concerns about retention of confidential data on obsolete hard disks to be addressed.
It's good to see that the recycling of PC's is being addressed by industry bodies. Our company www.hmrgroup.com has been remarketing and recycling PC's for over 20 years. We have been there from the start and have always offered the public the chance to "drop off" there old electronic equipment.