Stewardship Program Proposed in Canada for Videogames, Electronic Toys

The Canadian toy industry has drawn up a product stewardship program for videogames, game consoles and electronic toys. The first such collection and recycling program for toys in North America will be implemented in British Columbia starting July 2012, pending approval from the province’s Ministry of the Environment. On behalf of the Canadian Toy Association, the Canadian Brandowner Residual Stewardship Corp. (CBRSC) will implement the program in partnership with Waste Management, the corporation said.

The market for electronic toys in Canada is $210 million, CBRSC said. There’s sparse information on the lifespan of electronics toys, it said. And because British Columbia’s stewardship program will be the first in North America, there’s no data from which to compare, it said. For gaming systems, the expected lifespan of a computer may be extrapolated, the corporation said. CBRSC will design an “efficient reverse-distribution” program building on Waste Management’s infrastructure, it said.

The program will use a combination of permanent collection facilities at depots and retail locations, events at retail stores, schools and malls, and temporary collection sites for remote locations, the corporation said. CBRSC said it believes that “events and collection centers at retail stores, schools, and malls will produce the best recovery rates because of their proximity to population plus ease of access, space and transportation.” While transporters will meet all regulatory requirements, no hazardous transportation provisions of the Environmental Management Act will apply to electronic toys because their components aren’t classified as hazardous, it said.

The plan proposes different processing requirements for electronic games, internal circuit boards, batteries, cables and wires, and plastic. The program will use Canadian businesses for “primary dismantling and processing” of electronic toys, it said. CBRSC proposes to track the “environmental footprint” of its stewardship program by “estimating the carbon footprint of the collection, transportation and processing of electronic toys.” Because the program is “unique,” the corporation will start a “comprehensive consumer awareness” campaign, it said.

Electronic toy makers will pay an administrative fee in addition to a charge for operating the program. Manufacturers can levy “eco-fees” at the consumer or wholesale level to pay for collection and recycling, it said. The processing fee for manufacturers will vary depending on their products’ weight, volume, ease of dismantling, hazard rating of materials, and value of recovered commodities, CBRSC said.