SeatCare awarded Product Stewardship Investment grant

A program to recover and recycle old, unwanted and potentially unsafe child car safety seats will take a major step forward with a grant from the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund.

The grant will enable the development of SeatCare, a program that aims to help the public safely dispose of used child car safety seats for recycling.

Assistant Waste Reduction and Environmental Management Minister Trevor Evans said the dial is being shifted, as Australia changes its mindset to thinking about waste as a resource and moves towards a more circular economy.

“This new product stewardship scheme for old, unwanted or obsolete child car safety seats will reduce waste going to landfill, lift recycling rates and help consumers make a practical, positive difference for the environment,” he said.

Equilibrium, in collaboration with a group of manufacturers, retailers and child safety and automotive organisations, is designing the program, which aims to improve road safety while also reducing waste to landfill and costs to the community through illegal dumping of child car safety seats.

According to Equilibrium General Manager Damien Wigley, the investment fund grant is a vote of confidence in industry’s ambition to develop and implement a community-friendly collection and recycling scheme.

“SeatCare is an excellent example of how manufacturers, auto associations, safety advocates and environmental specialists can create positive waste reduction programs that meet consumer expectations,” he said.

“The SeatCare program will provide a unique community service that can improve road safety, while also reducing waste to landfill through an industry-led stewardship program that is family friendly.”

Child car safety seats have a limited life-span and their integrity can be compromised by factors such as accidents, time/age, temperature and sunlight and general wear and tear from use.

It is estimated that over 200,000 child car seats are disposed of every year, with the majority being sent to landfill. This is despite the fact that over 80 per cent of child car safety seats can be recycled once dismantled.

A trial in 2018-2019 found there is a growing public desire for a program to support the take-back of old child car safety seats, and that it is feasible to recover the seats and dismantle them.

By collecting and disassembling the seats on-site, SeatCare aims to divert in excess of 900 tonnes of waste away from landfill and back into the recycling stream.

SeatCare is expected to commence in 2021, and if successful, the program will be rolled out nationally over two to three years.

Wigley added that SeatCare is a national first, and has been formed to include key players across the life-cycle of child car safety seats.

“SeatCare demonstrates how voluntary approaches to product stewardship can be achieved in a timely and outcome-oriented way,” he said.

“Multi-stakeholder involvement from the outset is the key to such programs, as is equitable co-funding, transparency and environmentally sound processes.”

Organisations working on the national initiative include Baby Bunting, Infasecure, Dorel, Britax, Kidsafe, NRMA, RAA and Equilibrium.

“Baby Bunting is very excited to be working with SeatCare to establish a product stewardship scheme to help consumers access a sustainable and convenient method for disposing of old, unwanted and obsolete child car safety seats,” Baby Bunting CEO and Managing Director Matt Spencer said.

Similarly, Infasecure Director Matthew Horsfall explained that SeatCare has the full support of the Infasecure team.

“We have been following on with keen interest from the early stages of this program and will continue to support it 100 per cent into the future,” he said.

It is expected that SeatCare will accept a variety of child car safety seats and associated accessories, including rear facing carriers, forward facing seats, booster seats, car seat and carrier frames, and items that attach directly to the seat or carrier supported by the manufacture.

“We look forward, together with Kidsafe, Equilibrium, Baby Bunting and the two other major child car safety seat brands, to work towards further advancing a voluntary and sustainable SeatCare program,” Britax Childcare Managing Director Dirk Voller said.