Recycling Matters | SERI R2:2013 Updates

SERI (Sustainable Electronic Recycling International) https://sustainableelectronics.org/ the housing body of the R2:2013 Responsible Recycling Standard is currently going through the process of revising the standard.

The revision process is carried out by the R2 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which is composed of representatives from regulatory and public interest entities, recyclers/refurbishers, corporate users of electronics recycling services, and technical advisors with a broad-ranging expertise in the industry who share SERI’s vision for safe and sustainable electronics reuse and recycling.

Currently, the release of the final draft is expected to occur sometime in 2018. While several changes to the standard have been proposed there are several areas that have remained a strong focus for revision. Updates are likely to include enhanced requirements for tracking materials throughput, in addition to the requirement to notify upstream vendors of changes to their downstream recycling chain. These improvements will likely result in R2 certified organizations having to improve their management of materials and may result in imposed time limits for holding/processing inventory for continued flow of materials through the recycler's facility.

Additional proposed improvements may include clarification of Provision 6 regarding reuse requirements. The changes will result in refurbishers having more clearly defined requirements relating to their activities which are more in line with a refurbisher's natural process flow.

Lastly, the proposed changes will lead to improved transparency and accountability within Provision 5 regarding focus materials (FMs) and downstream vendors (DSV). The Provision 5 and 6 requirements have historically caused significant confusion among R2 auditors and electronics recycling organizations. SERI has provided may support documents to clarify the issues with great success. However, further clarification, in addition to amending the R2 standard, will improve the value of the R2 Responsible Recycling Standard for years to come.

While these changes have not been finalized, once a consensus is reached by the R2 Technical Advisory Committee a full draft of the standard will be issued and public comment will be sought. Full implementation of the revised standard is likely to take place in late 2019 to 2020.

Stay tuned for additional information as the process continues to move forward.

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