Basel Action Network's E-Stewards Certification Program

Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based environmental nonprofit which has a mission to stop the illegal export of electronic waste from the United States, has just launched a new standard and certification program called e-Stewards. The new program is for electronics recyclers and companies that generate volumes of e-waste.

 

The basic intent of the new e-Stewards standard is to stop illegal e-waste exporting to developing countries in accordance with the Basel Ban Amendment, e-waste disposal in landfills or incinerators, the use of prison labor in the electronics recycling industry, and to require full downstream reporting of where all recycled materials end up.

 

Redemtech, TechSoup's Refurbished Computer Initiative (RCI) refurbisher partner, is the first IT asset recovery company to be certified under the program. Nonprofits and libraries that currently get RCI computers will be able to have them recycled at end-of-life at no cost by Redemtech under the new stringent e-Stewards standards.

 

Redemtech has long been a strong advocate for Basel Action Network and the e-Stewards standard. The company was an original signatory in 2004 of BAN's Electronics Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship (PDF), which advocated for the world's strictest requirements for e-waste handling and stopping illicit e-waste exports.

 

More recently, Redemtech joined with a group of concerned electronics recyclers, environmentalists, health and safety, and technical experts to work with the Basel Action Network to develop the e-Stewards standard in reaction to another electronics recycling standard called R2, (Responsible Recycling Practices). R2 was developed over the last three years by manufacturers and recyclers in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It also certifies electronics recyclers mainly through the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, the main electronics recycling trade association. R2 does permit the export of discarded equipment so long as the material is tracked and documented, does not violate the laws of the receiving country, and the facilities there that handle the materials also meet R2 environmental health and safety standards.

 

BAN participated in the R2 discussions for two and a half years, but gave up on them because of disagreements with other stakeholders on export and reuse provisions as well as allowing prison labor. After their departure from R2, BAN immediately got to work to create a rigorous program that conforms to their high standards of environmental, social, and financial responsibility. E-Stewards requires all of their certified recyclers to already have ISO 14001 certification and conform to the strictest requirements for e-waste handling and downstream due diligence on materials that the recyclers themselves don't process down to commodity level products (plastics, metals, and glass). It also requires compliance with the Basel Convention and the Basel Ban, neither of which the U.S. government has signed onto. E-Stewards recyclers are also required to undergo ongoing internal and external audits by third party auditors. The requirements of the program are demanding indeed.

 

The program is an extraordinary undertaking by a relatively small environmental nonprofit organization determined to change the world — and the companies that support them like our RCI partner, Redemtech.