e-Stewards retires “Pledge” program

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The “Pledge” program of the e-Stewards recyclers, used by recyclers wanting to support the e-Stewards certification standard before the full development of the program, has been retired.

“The evolution and adoption of responsible electronics recycling practices made an important transition today as the Basel Action Network formally sunsetted the Pledged e-Stewards Recyclers program on September 1, 2011.  Established in 2003, the Pledge program was the first widely recognized initiative designed to identify electronics recyclers committed to globally responsible e-waste management practices.  Toay marks its official and full replacement by the Certified e-Stewards® Recyclers program,” according to the Basel Action Network.

The pledge, officially known as the  Electronic Recyclers’ Pledge of True Stewardship included eight tenets of responsible recycling including a promise not to send hazardous e-waste to landfills, incinerators, prison operations or to developing nations. In addition, it promoted establishment of environmental management systems and material tracking and transparency throughout the downstream supply chain.

“In 2003, the world was just waking up to the horrors of e-waste export and the dire need for a means of separating good recyclers from bad recyclers,” said Roman. “I’m amazed the basic tenets of the Pledge program, identified by BAN eight years ago, provided the foundation for what are now globally accepted principles of responsible e-recycling.  The new e-Stewards Recycler Certification is even more comprehensive and accountable – really the gold standard,” said Lauren Roman, BAN’s e-Stewards Business Director.

When the Certification program was launched in April 2010, almost 50 companies were participating in the Pledged e-Stewards Program. These companies were given 18 months to certify or leave the program completely.  As of September 1, approximately 75% of the Pledged e-Stewards have either achieved certification or are under contract with a Certifying Body to be certified by 2012.  Among those that have not certified, some were not eligible as they only collected e-waste and were not doing actual recycling.  Four companies are working toward certification but have yet to contract with a Certifying Body.  Two pledging companies could not achieve certification, BAN said, and a third declined due to the program’s expense.
Currently, more than 140 companies are certified or are in the process of obtaining certification.
For more information, visit www.e-Stewards.org.
 

PRODUCTS: ShredSupply, UNTHA offer mobile shredding

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ShredSupply has teamed up with UNTHA shredding technology America Inc. to offer the “Data Annihilator, ” a mobile high performance hard drive & media destruction system. Combining ShredSupply’s extensive mobile shredding equipment experience with UNTHA’s virtually indestructible RS30 four shaft shredder, the “Data Annihilator” has been introduced to the on-site data and media destruction market.

UNTHA shredding technology, one of the largest shredder manufacturers in Europe, has over 8,000 shredders in daily operation worldwide. The UNTHA RS30 four shaft shredder has is a class leader for destroying hard drives, CDs, DVDs and tapes. It is also ideal for destroying light electronics including cell phones, PDAs and laptop computers. The built-in versatile screen allows the operator to vary the particle size to meet the highest security requirements.

ShredSupply offers single source solutions for refurbished mobile shredding equipment, re-manufactured OE parts, shred truck rentals, chassis & shredder service and has two customer service locations in Spokane, Wash. and Fort Worth, Texas.

“UNTHA was the natural choice for our mobile media shredding truck because the RS30 is the most powerful shredder available for this application. It has proven to be the most efficient, reliable hard drive/media shredder on the market today”said ShredSupply President Rocky Rajewski.

“We have seen a significant growth in demand for a shred truck capable of serious hard drive shredding, and we are very happy to be able to team up with an industry leader like ShredSupply. They are extremely innovative and customer focused.  We believe that UNTHA and ShredSupply make a great team,” said Bernhard Mueggler, CEO of UNTHA America.

For additional information, please contact:

ShredSupply, Inc. –  info@shredsupply.com

UNTHA shredding technology America Inc. — info@untha-america.com

ECS Refining obtains e-Stewards certification

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ECS Refining of Santa Clara, Calif., has obtained e-Stewards certifications for its facility in Terrell, Texas.

“This is a significant milestone for our company. Many of our customers and partners have been looking for assurance from e-recyclers such as ECS that we have the highest standards and processes available in the world,” said Jim Taggart, Chief Executive Officer, ECS Refining. “We had been an e-Stewards Founder since the program’s inception, but we weren’t going to be satisfied until we secured the most relevant industry standard by becoming ‘e-Stewards Certified.’ In addition, we are continuing audits with our other regional processing facilities to provide a fully certified, national solution for our clients.”

The e-Stewards Certification was developed by a group of electronics recyclers, environmentalists, industry leaders and health and safety and technical experts working with the Basel Action Network (BAN), a non-governmental organization focused on stopping  e-waste exports. The e-Stewards Certification program, created by BAN, formally recognizes electronics recyclers that adhere to environmentally and socially responsible practices when recovering hazardous electronic materials.

“This designation is extremely meaningful to our customers and prospects. They can be assured that our recycled materials are processed correctly, safely and not sent overseas. Some of our competitors can’t make that claim,” said Mark Robards, Vice President of Sales, ECS Refining. “This certification publicly va lidates and extends our 30 year policy of being a conscientious e-recycling company which our partners, customers and consumers can trust.”

Companies pursuing e-Stewards Certification undergo audits to ensure they comply with the e-Stewards Standard and have a registered ISO 14001:2004 environmental management system in place.

“We’re proud to announce that ECS Refining Texas has received e-Stewards Certification. This is no small feat,” said Jim Puckett, Executive Director of BAN. “ECS’s addition to our network of responsible recyclers is particularly important since they have processes that not only serve generators of e-waste but also the electronics recycling industry. Having them as a qualified processor for other recyclers seeking responsible domestic recycling moves our mission of accountable recycling forward.”

 

Australian e-waste lobby to become recycler

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Product Stewardship Australia is making the change from a lobbying group to a stewardship organization, a technology website reports.

The organization campaigned for national e-waste legislation in Australia, and is hoping to become an operational entity to recycle e-waste, the website said.

Formed by television and computer manufacturers in 2004, Product Stewardship Australia lobbied the Australian government in support of a national extended producer responsibilty program for e-waste management.
After seven years, the government passed legislation in 2011 for an e-waste EPR program, with mandates beginning after 2012.

According to ZDNet:
PSA said in a statement today that as the legislative process nears completion, it would look to transition itself from a lobby to an operational Product Steward Organisation for the handling of e-waste.

Stuart Clark, chairman of PSA, said today that he was proud of the lobby’s achievements.

“Over seven years, PSA has been at the forefront of driving some of the most significant environmental policy reform in Australia.

“This has been a long and committed effort, but one that is ultimately going to benefit all Australians by providing a community-friendly take-back service for obsolete TVs and computers. The PSA board is especially grateful to the association’s member companies, who have provided relentless support and funding to achieve a positive recycling outcome,” Clark said in a statement today.

Supporting manufacturers include Acer, Apple, Canon, Dell, Epson, Fuji, HP, IBM, LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp and Sony.

For more on Australia’s Electronics Recycling standards, download here: INTERIM-INDUSTRY-STANDARD or CLICK HERE.

 

First non-profit attains R2 certification

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R2 Solutions, the organization that oversees the Responsible Recycling, has announced a non-profit organization has joined the ranks of the certified R2 companies for the first time.

Computers for Classrooms of Chico, Calif., was the first non-profit refurbisher to be added to the database of R2 certified recyclers, R2 solutions reported in its monthly newsletter.

The organization seeks to bridge the digital divide by providing technology to schools, non-profits and low income families.  Pat Furr, the Executive Director of the organization, decided to pursue R2 certification in anticipation of federal and state requirements for agencies to exclusively use third-party certified recyclers and refurbishers, R2 Solutions reported.

The certification process lasted about 8 months, R2 Solutions said, and was accomplished with the help of GreenEye Partners.

CfC’s status as an R2 certified refurbisher makes them eligible to continue to work with federal agencies, and upon learning of their certified status, the state of California offered the organization access to new streams of high-quality, high-volume material.

“We expect we will be able to attract more donations from the private sector as well since R2 establishes requirements around secure data management, worker safety and environmental protection – issues that both the public and private sector are concerned about when choosing an e-scrap service provider,” Furr told R2 Solutions.  “Non-profit refurbishers can do wonderful things with technology – if we can get it donated.  And we believe R2 certification can help channel those donations to CfC.”

About 35 refurbisers hae joined the R2 Alliance, a group of refurbishers that are supporting each other in the certification process by sharing information and experiences.  Out of those that have expressed interest, about 15 are in the process of signing contracts with a CB and the others are undertaking internal work to prepare for the audit process, R2 Solutions said.

Refurbishers interested in learning more about the R2 Alliance and the collaborative effort of non-profit reuse organizations to achieve R2 should contact Sarah Commes at sc@pcrr.com.

 

SRS reports growth of nearly 20 percent in 2011

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Sims Recycling Solutions continues to grow as a portion of Sims Metal Management’s business.

Sims released its 2011 annual financial report this week. The entire company declared world-wide revenues of A$8.9 billion, with profits of A$192.1 million or 93.3 cents per share, for the year; of that, SRS, the company’s e-waste arm, reported revenues of A$786.4 million, compared to A$657.4 million in 2010 worldwide. The division saw growth of 19.6 percent for the company, Sims reported.

Earnings before interest and tax for SRS were A$114.4 million worldwide in 2011, compared to A$89.4 million in 2010, an increase of 28 percent. By comparison, only the company’s ferrous trading unit reported higher EBIT data; the ferrous trading division reported A$181.7 EBIT, an increase of 36.4 percent over 2010.

During the call, Dan Dienst, Group CEO, said he expected growth in the segment to continue.

“You have heard us say before that SRS globally is really in its sort of toddler period – infancy, plenty of opportunity, again across all geographies for that business,” he said. “In North America we continue to grab volume, sensible volume.”

The company continues to make investments in technology and to refine internal operating practices, he said.

“We are barely scratching the surface in getting started on leveraging the enormous infrastructure we have in the traditional metals business and the footprint we have coast-to-coast in the traditional metals business in North America and starting to, in certain markets, build out an SRS competency in markets where we currently don’t exist.”

He concluded his remarks on the e-waste recycling business by saying the company was “very excited about that opportunity, we are just getting started.”

For more on the company’s year-end results, please see:

A slide presentation on results: http://www.simsmm.com/media/12412/sims%20fy11%20results%20presentation.pdf

An audio file of the conference call: http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/9e6m446i/lan/en

Year-end press release: http://www.simsmm.com/media/12409/smm%20fy11%20earnings%20release%2026%20aug%202011.pdf