EPA to Monitor Electronics Recyclers
by Trey Granger
Published on March 16th, 2010
1 Comment
Guiyu is one of the biggest e-waste centers of the world. More than a million ton of e-waste is dismantled in this Chinese village every year. Photo: Flickr/Bert van Dijik
In an attempt to address concerns about improper disposal and unidentified international exports, the U.S. EPA has created Responsible Recycling Practices for Electronics Recyclers (R2), a set of standards for electronics recyclers.
The new certification covers a range of e-waste topics, including banning certain materials from landfills or burning. While electronics pose no environmental harm on your desk, they contain heavy metals like lead and mercury that can contaminate soil and water if improperly disposed.
The R2 standard does not prevent companies from shipping electronics overseas, as the EPA wants to encourage exploring alternative markets that may not be available in the U.S. However, it requires any e-cyclers to obtain documentation from a foreign government before anything is shipped, to prevent unknown exports.
The issue of exporting has been a popular environmental topic because many of the countries that accept electronics do not have the same safety requirements as the United States when it comes to dismantling. This can create health hazards for workers and contribute to air and water pollution.
Yet another area covered by this certification is personal information. In the case that electronics are sold for reuse, it requires that all information on things like hard drives are destroyed.
R2 is the latest certification that electronics recyclers can strive for. The Basel Action Network provides its e-Stewards certification for companies that commit to certain standards, and there is also ISO 14000 certification that focuses on the environmental impact of the recycling process.
None of these certifications is currently required for a company to collect and recycle electronics. For R2 certification, there are currently two companies that provide inspection - Perry Johnson Registrars and SGS.
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Carol Baroudi
posted on April 9th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
R2 may be the “newest” but it’s not the “highest”. R2 is chock full of loopholes. R2 language states that properly equipped facilities are required only if ‘economically feasible’. R2 “focus materials” include only
some circuit boards, items containing mercury, CRTs and CRT glass (does NOT include phosphors or frit), batteries, and items containing PCBs. Circuit boards without lead but still containing mercury
and batteries are exempted from the definition of toxic materials, and therefore are free to be exported without restriction, despite the international laws restricting this. Except for items containing PCBs, R2
permits shredding and shipment of toxic materials downstream for subsequent separation at “properly licensed” facilities. Toner is not an R2 “focus material”, though a potential carcinogen, and must only be
recycled if “economically feasible.”An R2 recycler can ship co-mingled shredded ewaste containing focus materials (except polychlorinated biphenols) to anyone, anywhere, who will warrant that they are properly licensed under local laws, and able to manage the material properly. It does NOT control practices that converthazardous co-mingled ewaste materials into benign resources, such as preventing open burning of insulatedwire plastic(s) for copper metal recovery, or open burning of
plastics in lieu of proper recycling. R2 is sub-standard as standards go. For serious, thorough, legally, ethically, socially responsible ewaste handling you really need e-Stewards.