• November 22, 2013

R2:2013 Responsible Recycling of Electronic Waste Transition

On April 30, 2013, the R2 Solutions Board of Directors established the requirements for the transition to

R2:2013. In addition to the new R2:2013 Standard, a new R2 Code of Practice has been released, governing the implementation of all matters relating to the R2:2013 Standard and an R2 guidance document which clarifies the intent of requirements of the R2:2013 Standard.

R2:2013 was created to clarify requirements of the R2:2008 practices, improve the readability and understanding of the standard, provide additional best practices and improve the quality of certification.

The new revision was effective as of July 1, 2013.

It is not intended to serve as a standalone Environmental Health and Safety Management System, and requires a company to possess certification to ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001, or RIOS.

Certification Bodies will no longer conduct registration audits to the R2:2008 beginning six months after the effective date of R2:2013, January 1, 2014.

Renewals of existing certificates shall be based on conformance to R2:2013 prior to the end of the eighteen month transition period.

Existing R2:2008 certifications will no longer be valid eighteen (18) months after the effective date of July 1, 2013 for R2:2013.

Also effective July 1, 2013 all facilities must, per the R2 Code of Practices, have a Licensing Agreement in place with R2 Solution. They must pay their licensing fee to R2 Solutions at the time of surveillance, certification or recertification audit to either R2:2008 or R2:2013.

Each client is responsible for completing an application form and paying an online fee.

For multi-site facilities, each site must have its own License Acknowledgment receipt issued.

To obtain and maintain a licensing agreement with R2 Solutions, a company must:

a)     Engage in electronic reuse and recycling activities such as collecting, refurbishing, reselling, processing, demanufacturing, recovering assets,

b)     brokering of electronics equipment or components

c)     Abide by all requirements relating to use of the use of the R2 logo

d)     Remain current in its payments to R2 Solutions for the licensing fee.

e)     Otherwise conform to the licensing agreement

In issuing certifications and notification to R2 Solutions the following items have been identified as areas of compliance

a)     The CB must verify that the certification candidate’s with R2 Solutions is current during any audits.

b)     Multi-site certifications must clearly identify the controlling site.

c)     Each site listing will clearly demonstrate any differences in scope of activities between sites.

d)     Each site must be fully audited before added to the multi-site certificate.

e)     Campus certifications shall clearly identify the main processing location and follow any applicable requirements within the R2 code of practices.

f)      If any allowances are used, each allowance will be documented on the certificate. Allowances do not change the requirements of the R2 Standard, they remove a requirement from the scope of certification for certain types of organizations. Examples include broker allowances, co-location allowances, campus allowances, and focus material processor allowances.

The R2 Code of Practice includes some interesting changes regarding the calculation of audit time.

a)     The number of downstream vendors and their R2 certification status will affect the duration of an organization’s audit.

b)     In addition, accredited certification bodies are now required to add time to each audit to verify nonconformities from the prior audit.

c)     In addition, multi-site certifications are now allowed at initial certification, provided there is one EH&S management system and shared documented Processes; however, as part of the initial audit all members of the multi-site must be audited.

d)     Sampling can be performed on subsequent surveillance audits.

Lastly, the R2 Code of Practice details stringent requirements relating to suspension of certificates. Suspension may result for a number of reasons including, an organization knowingly selling and misrepresenting non-functioning equipment to customers. It includes organizations doing this under an associated/related e-Bay presence, even if operating under a different name or alias.

Certificates may also be suspended if an organization misrepresents the certification status of any facilities associated with the organization.

• November 22, 2013
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• News, R2 - Responsible Recycling