"And if it's driven by government, consumers won't see this as a vendor-led program to lift costs. The other thing to point out is it's not just about computers, but all types of equipment."

For Whittard, the best solution was to allow vendors to run their own programs but enforce e-waste requirements via government legislation. This could be overseen by industry.

"If vendors all have different views, the issue may never get resolved," Whittard said. "It's better to have them providing recycling for their products based on guidelines."

But for AIIA's Millen, the industry needed to provide a wider catchment area to ensure products didn't slip through the cracks.

"It's not so much about taking Byteback national as about testing the portability and manageability and understanding what is out there," he said. "Byteback is not the be-all and end-all. The plan is to set up an industry program with legislation underpinning the scheme."

Samsung is also absent from the Byteback program but does participate in an industry-led TV take-back scheme.

Marketing manager, Anthony Toope, sympathised with concerns around cost and competitive advantage and agreed the computer industry's whitebox factor also made it difficult to pin down costs. According to the AIIA, 38 brands account for 75 per cent of the computer-related waste stream.

Toope said the lack of whitebox manufacturing within the TV industry was one of the things that made it easier to provide a framework across.

Another wider issue Acer's Tang cited was that consumers were still not fully aware of the complexity and cost of recycling computer-related equipment. While most are supportive of responsible disposal of product, many expected this to be offered at virtually no cost, he said.

"In most cases, costs need to be absorbed as part of product value," Tang said. Samsung's Toope also believed the corporate community was dragging the chain.

"In the office environment companies don't provide that take-back facility," he said.

Other e-waste management ideas put forward by the AIIA include imposing a levy, much like an import duty, on products as they enter the country. Toshiba's Whittard strongly supported the levy idea but BenQ's Newton and Samsung's Toope pointed out this would require stringent policing and auditing procedures to be effective.

AIIA's Millen said the computer industry could end up with a program which sees a separate body, or state governments, taking responsibility for monitoring and managing e-waste issues.

"The Byteback program is about taking leadership and its success shows that it does work," AIIA's new CEO, Ian Birks, said. "It may not be the right program for all states, but at least it demonstrates the plausibility of these concepts and shows we can work together."