Electronic Recyclers International (ERI), one of the nation’s largest recyclers of electronic waste, announced today that ERI’s existing facilities located in California, Washington, Colorado and Texas have been certified to the e-Stewards Standard for Responsible Recycling and Reuse of Electronic Equipment, rendering ERI a companywide certified e-Stewards recycler.
The e-Stewards Certification program, created by the environmental organization, the Basel Action Network (BAN), is the first such program backed by environmental organizations and major corporations alike. The accredited, third-party audited certification program is supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and has been endorsed by Greenpeace USA, the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Electronics TakeBack Coalition and 68 other environmental organizations. It has also drawn the public support of major corporate “e-Stewards Enterprises” including Alcoa, Samsung, Bank of America, Capital One Financial Corp. and Wells Fargo. Recently, Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley California), and King County (Seattle, Washington) have passed ordinances or policies requiring the use of e-Stewards Recyclers.
At the heart of the program is the e-Stewards Standard created by BAN in conjunction with industry leaders and health and environmental specialists. It requires recyclers to eliminate exports of hazardous e-wastes to developing countries; to halt the dumping of such wastes in municipal landfills or incinerators; and to cease the use of captive prison populations to manage toxic e-wastes. It also calls for strict protection of customers’ private data and occupational health safeguards to ensure that workers in recycling plants are not exposed to toxic dusts and fumes.
“The e-Stewards Standard is a market differentiator in an industry that needs one badly,” said Jim Puckett, Founder of the Basel Action Network. “If you care about security of your data, and the impacts of toxic substances in electronic waste on workers here at home and in developing countries, then you will choose to be held to this highest standard of environmental and social responsibility and accept no substitutes.”
Certification body QMI-SAI Global conducted the audit that independently determined every one of ERI’s current facilities to be operating within the parameters set by the e-Stewards Standard. ERI reported that their three newest locations, in Indiana, Massachusetts and North Carolina, are also on schedule to be certified by the end of August, 2011.
“We are extremely proud to have met the strictest standards of environmental and operational excellence,” said John S. Shegerian, Chairman and CEO of ERI. “We strongly support BAN’s certified, third-party audited program and will proudly display our e-Steward Certification documents at each our locations.”
Shegerian also noted that ERI continues to see steady growth and will soon be expanding nationally and internationally. As each facility becomes operational they will likewise become audited and certified.