New CE Recycling Rules Inadequate: Environmentalists
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 10/31/2008
San Francisco — New standards for electronics recyclers issued today by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do little to prevent the dumping of “e-waste” in developing countries, two environmental groups charge.
According to Barbara Kyle, national coordinator of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, here, the EPA's new R2 guidelines contain enough loopholes to allow recyclers to comply with the rules and still export toxic e-waste to developing countries in violation of their laws. “These standards have zero support from the environmental community and are worthless to any Fortune 500 company [that] needs to use a truly responsible recycler," she said.
The Coalition, a national group of non-profit organizations promoting responsible recycling and green design in the electronics industry, along with the Basel Action Network (BAN), had been part of the R2 stakeholder dialogue which helped craft the guidelines. But both groups said they withdrew in protest over the adoption of inadequate standards and the failure to prohibit the use of prison recycling operations and the incineration of e-waste.
According to the EPA, the voluntary R2 guidelines include 13 principles to help electronics recyclers ensure their material is handled safely and legally in the United States and foreign countries. 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.
BAN is currently developing its own electronics recycling standard and certification program. “We were hoping the R2 process would lead to an audited certification program with high standards,” said Sarah Westervelt, BAN's e-waste project coordinator. “But when we saw that R2 was not going to result in a good standard, we decided we needed to develop our own.”
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Aside from corporate audit programs established by individual OEMs, the R2 standards are the closest things I've seen to usable and auditable e-scrap processing and disposal guidelines. While the BAN Pledge may include stronger criteria on exporting of e-scrap materials, the standard fails in one critical area: it is not audited and enforced, ultimately leading to a BAN e-Stewards recycler list that is poorly vetted at best.
I believe that in the interest of the public and corporate entities alike, a standard that accomplishes 95% of the goal but that is properly audited against the requirements should be preferred to a lofty standard that lacks proper verification on the ground.
In the future, if you are looking for a responsible e-scrap processor and you find an R2 (maybe R2/RIOS) certified company, nobody stops you from asking a few additional questions about transboundary shipment documentation and verification before sending your material to that site.
And let's be clear: From an environmental perspective, some controlled and documented export of e-scrap materials may be necessary and more environmentally benign that keeping and processing these materials in the United States (e.g. circuit boards, batteries).
Tanja Hermann - 2008-5-11 11:23:00 EST -
Voltaire said it best, "The perfect is the enemy of the good".
Robin Ingenthron - 2008-3-11 09:58:00 EST -
As someone who was intensively involved throughout the development of the R2 practices, I can say with certainty that the exporting requirements are rigorous. These requirements, and the document as whole, represent a tremendous step forward in terms of expectations for responsible behavior within this industry.
If the environmental groups quoted in this article are able to develop an accredited certification program that is in some sense more rigorous, or precludes exports outright, great. There will be customers that look for that level of scrutiny. But for the vast majority of e-recycler customers, the R2 standards will provide a much-appreciated level of assurance that their end-of-life equipment is being managed in an environmentally responsible manner.
John Lingelbach - 2008-1-11 00:16:00 EDT
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