BAN to Develop Certification Program for Electronics Recyclers
The Basel Action Network (BAN), Seattle, and the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, San Francisco, have joined with 32 electronics recyclers in the United States and Canada to announce that BAN’s e-Stewards program will soon be fully accredited and certified.
The e-Steward Certification will forbid the dumping of toxic e-scrap in developing countries, local landfills and incinerators; the use of prison labor to process electronic scrap; and the unauthorized release of private data contained in discarded computers.
"Unfortunately today, most of those companies calling themselves electronics recyclers are scammers," says Sarah Westervelt, BAN e-Stewards project coordinator. "They simply load up containers of old computers and ship them off to China or Africa."
She adds, "By choosing an e-Steward recycler, consumers and large businesses are assured that their old computers and TVs will be safely managed and not simply tossed into a local landfill, processed unsafely by prison laborers or exported to developing countries."
The e-Stewards announcement follows the airing of an exposé on CBS’s "60 Minutes," Following the Trail of Toxic e-Waste, as well as a number of programs revealing improper processing of scrapped electronics in China and Africa that have been shipped from electronics recycling companies in the U.S. and Canada.
The Electronic TakeBack Coalition and BAN also are pursuing federal legislation to ban national exports. If the legislation passes, the audited certification program will serve as a strong enforcement tool, according to the organizations.
"The e-Stewards project is a response to the failure of government and industry to act as responsible global citizens in the age of information technology," says Jim Puckett, BAN executive director.
Westervelt says the R2 guidelines recently released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (see "EPA Issues R2 Guidelines," Page 14) do not directly address export concerns. She adds that while the guidelines appear to be thorough upon first glance, the R2 designation is not a true differentiator.
The e-Stewards include 32 companies in 92 locations that have been qualified by BAN. By early 2010 the program will feature an ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) certification system with third-party auditing.
Boliden AB, California Electronic Asset Recovery, Cascade Asset Management, ECS Refining, Electronic Recyclers International, GreenCitizen, Hesstech, Metech, Redemtech, RELectronics, the Surplus Exchange, Total Reclaim, Waste Management Recycle America and WeRecycle! provided funding to create the certification program
EPA Issues R2 Guidelines
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed guidelines for electronics recyclers.
The guidelines, called "Responsible Recycling (R2) Practices for Use in Accredited Certification Programs for Electronics Recyclers," have been designed to promote responsible environmental, worker safety and public health practices for electronics recyclers.
R2 offers 13 principles designed to help electronics recyclers ensure their material is handled safely and legally in the U.S. and in foreign countries, according to the EPA. It calls on recyclers to establish a management system for environmental and worker safety; develop a policy that promotes reuse and material recovery over landfill or incineration; and use practices that reduce exposures or emissions during recycling operations.
The principles also call for recyclers to use diligence to assure appropriate management of materials throughout the recycling chain, including materials that are exported to foreign countries.
A workgroup including federal and state governments, electronics manufacturers and recyclers and trade associations developed the guidelines. The workgroup will now focus on establishing a certification process, which will allow consumers to recognize responsible recyclers in the marketplace.
Following the release of the R2 guidelines, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) announced that ISRI Services Corp. has adopted the guidelines for its RIOS (Recycling Industry Operating Standard) certification program.
More information about the R2 guidelines is available at www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/r2practices.htm.
MRM Launches National Recycling Initiative
Electronic Manufacturers Recycling Management Co. (MRM), a provider of e-scrap recycling management services to manufacturers, has announced it will begin creating a national recycling infrastructure that manufacturers can use to provide convenient recycling opportunities for their customers.
Panasonic Corp. of North America, Sharp Electronics Corp. and Toshiba America Consumer Products are the first companies to use this expanded recycling service to operate their individual manufacturer recycling programs, according to the press release.
This new initiative allows MRM to expand its operations beyond its current compliance management activities in Minnesota and Texas. Now entering its second year of operations, MRM has implemented and manages recycling services in these two states for some 25 individual electronics manufacturers.
The first phase of the MRM nationwide ramp-up began in November with management of electronics recycling for manufacturers in several additional states, including California, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. MRM will continue its expansion until its services cover all 50 states, the company says. Additional details on MRM’s plans will be available in January 2009.
"MRM is focused on enhancing the sustainability of individual company brands and product offerings through convenient, environmentally sound and efficient recycling," says MRM President David Thompson. "This type of collaborative effort is essential to providing consumers with convenient recycling opportunities and to achieving practical, long-term solutions."
"The power of MRM’s platform is its capacity to help the electronics industry move beyond individual company programs that focus on only a single company brand, often at separate, widely dispersed and costly collection locations, to make use of a common efficient system," says Tricia Conroy, MRM’s executive director.
MRM, in this first phase of its expansion, will use the services of two recyclers, CRT-Processing, based in Janesville, Wis., and ECO-International, headquartered in Vestal, N.Y. With these recyclers and their collection infrastructure, the MRM network will encompass more than 160 collection sites and several other collection partners across 10 states, according to the press release.
A list of participating sites is available at www.MRMrecycling.com.
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