Product stewardship

Product stewardship is an approach to managing the impacts of products and materials. It acknowledges that those involved in producing, selling, using and disposing of products have a shared responsibility to ensure that those products are managed in a way that reduces their impact, throughout their lifecycle, on the environment and on human health and safety.

AMTA has taken a leadership role towards product stewardship through the MobileMuster program. MobileMuster gained voluntary product stewardship accreditation by the federal government in 2014 under the Product Stewardship Act 2011. The Act provides a framework to effectively address the environmental, health and safety impacts of a product or material across its full life cycle, from manufacture to disposal. In 2019 the program was re-accredited for a further five years by the federal government.

The work of MobileMuster highlights how industry-led and funded product stewardship schemes, enable products to be managed sustainably without the need for regulation. MobileMuster works closely with the federal government to ensure it is achieving agreed outcomes that bring real social and environmental benefits to the community.

This mobile industry takes responsibility for their products throughout their lifecycle including:

• Improving how efficiently resources are used in the production of mobile phones.
• Minimising waste in the manufacture, production, use and disposal of mobiles and accessories.
• Ensuring that mobiles and accessories are safely recycled to the highest environmental standards.
• Reducing risk to human health through better management of product manufacturing and disposal (e.g. ensuring safe work environments).

MobileMuster members are committed to product stewardship. For more information and inspiration on how they approach their commitment visit the MobileMuster website.

MobileMuster – Our Story from MobileMuster on Vimeo.