Sharp Celebrates Earth Day With Free Television Recycling Initiative

Customers can recycle old TVs when purchasing a new Sharp LCD TV from Sharp's online retail site

April 2, 2007

Sharp, a worldwide leader in flat-panel Liquid Crystal Display Televisions (LCD TV), is expanding efforts to help protect the environment with a month-long recycling program that celebrates Earth Day. During the month of April, any customer purchasing a new Sharp LCD TV with a screen size of 37-inches or larger through Sharp's online retail site, Sharp Direct (sharpdirectusa.com), can have their old television recycled for free, as long as the purchase is of equal or greater screen size. This promotion joins other environmentally-friendly initiatives that Sharp has implemented throughout the company and in many of the products they manufacture and sell. "This recycling initiative gives our customers the opportunity to participate in an environmentally-responsible green program," said Erik Durko, Director, Strategic Services, Services and Solutions Group, Sharp Electronics Corporation. "We are proud to be implementing one way to keep television sets from becoming additional waste in landfills." The program is designed to be consumer friendly. Upon purchase of a Sharp LCD TV of 37" or greater through Sharp Direct during the month of April, the customer will receive free in-home delivery service. In addition, Sharp will provide delivery of the new Sharp LCD TV to a reasonably accessible room of the consumer's choice and remove the old TV for recycling. The customer will simply exchange their old TV with the team delivering their new Sharp LCD TV. The old televisions will be delivered to a local Sharp-certified recycler. Sharp is dedicated to becoming an environmentally advanced company, and the entire company works to develop products and technologies with strong environmental performance. In Japan, Sharp's newest LCD plant, Kameyama No. 2, employs a 5150KW solar photovoltaic system, with cogeneration systems and fuel cells, which supplies about one-third of the total electrical power used in the plant. The entire TV manufacturing process is carried out in a single plant - from fabricating the LCD panels to final assembly - eliminating the need to ship sub-assemblies between distant plants and enabling Sharp to slash the amount of packaging materials required for shipping and to reduce emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO2). The plant also uses a water purifying system in which 100 percent of the water expelled by the factory is recycled. All of Sharp's AQUOS LCD TVs have a long lamp life of 60,000 hours and low power consumption, using 60 percent less power than comparably-sized CRT (cathode-ray tube) direct-view televisions. Many of Sharp's AQUOS models are also ENERGY STAR(R) certified, which means they meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy. The design of the AQUOS television is also environmentally conscious - stands use recycled plastic and plant-based paint; cabinets use non-halogen resin that gives off almost no dioxins or other toxic substances when incinerated; power cords and wiring are halogen-free; solder circuit boards are lead-free; and instruction manuals are made completely from recycled paper and use soy ink. Sharp is the world's leading producer of solar systems, a position the company has held for the last six years. It produces almost a quarter of the world's solar panels annually. The company's history in the solar industry started in 1959 when the company began research and development of solar panels, and in 1963 Sharp became the first Japanese company to mass-produce solar cells. In the United States, Sharp was named a winner of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "SmartWay Excellence Award," which recognizes transportation and manufacturing companies that succeeded in reducing emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases as part of the EPA's SmartWay(SM) Transport Partnership. Sharp was a winner in the "Shipper" category and was one of only 24 companies, from among the Partnerships' more than 475 partners, to receive this distinction. Sharp aims to become a zero global warming impact company by 2010. The company will work to limit the amount of greenhouse gas emissions resulting from Sharp's business activities around the world, while also significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions by means of the energy-creating effects of solar cells and the energy-saving effects of new products manufactured by Sharp. For more information on Sharp's full line of Liquid Crystal Televisions, contact Sharp Electronics Corporation, Sharp Plaza, Mahwah, N.J. 07430, or call 800-BE-SHARP. For online product information, visit Sharp's Web site at sharpusa.com Sharp Electronics Corporation is the U.S. subsidiary of Japan's Sharp Corporation, a worldwide developer of one-of-a-kind home entertainment products, appliances, networked multifunctional office solutions, solar energy solutions and mobile communication and information tools. Leading brands include AQUOS(R) Liquid Crystal Televisions, 1-Bit(TM) digital audio products, SharpVision(R) projection products, Insight(TM) Microwave Drawers, IMAGER(TM) digital multifunctional systems, and Notevision(R) multimedia projectors. For more information visit Sharp Electronics Corporation at http://www.sharpusa.com

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