Philips pledges to recycling used electronics

Consumer electronics manufacturer Philips has announced plans to incorporate the cost of recycling into its product price.

This means the burden of recycling now lies with Philips rather than its customers.

Customers who buy Philips electronics will no longer have to pay the cost of recycling once the product expires, but will pay this as part of the overall new product price.

Once a product becomes obsolete, customers can return it to Philips for recycling.

Kim Schoppink, Greenpeace Netherlands toxics campaigner, said: “We are delighted that Philips has finally taken full financial responsibility for its own products.

“This is a big step forward, and makes Philips a new green leader in the electronics sector.”

The news follows a Greenpeace investigation that found much of Europe’s electronic waste being sent to China, India and Nigeria as ’second hand goods’.

When the rubbish arrived in these places, it was either sold for scrap, illegally dumped, or broken apart for recycling by workers unprotected from dangerous toxic chemicals in e-waste, including mercury and lead.

Philips had firmly entrenched itself against proposals to make e-waste exports illegal.

However, after nearly 50,000 Greenpeace supporters emailed Philips CEO Gerard Kleisterlee, the company announced this dramatic u-turn.