Stewardship Solutions for Whitegoods
Product Stewardship Pathways for Large Household Appliances 

In partnership with the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC), the Centre investigated stewardship pathways for large household appliances such as refrigerators, freezers, dryers, dishwashers and washing machines. 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.

This project included:

  • A review of international approaches to stewardship of whitegoods which highlighted that Australia is well behind Europe and parts of Asia that have introduced regulations to ensure that brands and manufacturers of large appliances contribute to the repair and end of life costs of appliance.
  • Interviews and roundtables with the appliance industry and key stakeholders in the value chain that showed strong support for a regulated stewardship scheme to prevent free-riders if it was codesigned with the appliance industry. Already a handful of brands run take back collection schemes but usually only when a new appliance is being delivered to a customer, this needs to become industry wide.
  • High level economic modelling which showed that transferring financial responsibility to industry for the current collection and recycling costs for large household appliances would require industry to incur an estimated levy of $37 per appliance (around 2.58% of current retail price). The modelling also showed that, to increase repair and significantly increase material and gas recovery rates from the current 59% to 80%, the levy would need to be increased to $49 per appliance, this investment could create an additional 496 jobs in the repair sector.

The two main recommendations from the project findings are

  1. for the Federal Government to work with the appliance industry to design and implement a producer responsibility regulation for large household appliances; and
  2. that there is also an opportunity for the NSW Government to create a state-based producer responsibility regulation for large household appliances under the Product Lifecycle Responsibility Act 2025.

For the full report please see Stewardship Solutions for Whitegoods (June 2025)

Additional supporting documents are also available:

For the Media Release please see 20250904 Stewardship Solutions Whitegoods Media release

 

 

 

The Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence is an independent, not for profit charity, that seeks to reduce waste generation and create positive environmental and social outcomes through sustainable design, resource conservation, reuse, repair, and recycling. The Centre helps businesses, industries, and product stewardship organisations to adopt a strong lifecycle approach to deliver their ESG and circular economy objectives. We also provide independent advice on product stewardship priorities to the Australian government.

Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence Limited  |  PO Box 7052  |   Berrima NSW 2577

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