Electronics Recycling Conference: Certified Success

With the proliferation of certification programs that electronics recyclers can implement, deciding which of the available options to choose can be a confusing question for a company. A panel of speakers at the 2008 Electronics Recycling Conference & Trade Show, organized by the Recycling Today Media Group, June 22-24 in Chicago, attempted to shed light on the costs and benefits of seeking certification.

Robin Ingenthron of conference sponsor WR3A and president of American Retroworks, Middlebury, Vt., served as moderator for the session, which included panelists Gina Chiarella of WeRecycle, based in Connecticut; Betsy Delaney of First Environment of Boonton, N.J., and Bob Johnson, executive director of the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), Phoenix.

Ingenthron began by noting that about six years ago, clients began asking whether his company was EPA-certified. Although such a certification did not exist, a number of electronics recyclers were claiming this designation. “If you really want to vet someone, the easiest thing to do is find out if they are EPA certified and immediately disqualify them, because at least you know they are a liar,” he quipped.

However, a number of legitimate certifications do exist that electronics recyclers may want to consider, including ISO 9001 and 14001 certifications, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI) Recycling Industry Operating Standard (RIOS) , NAID AAA Certification, with an endorsement for hard drive destruction, as well as NAID Certification of Computer Hard Drive Sanitization Operations, and certification from the International Association of Electronics Recyclers.

NAID’s Johnson said that it was common to think of certifications as establishing the highest standard for business to achieve, but in truth certification programs created a base level under which companies should not be operating.

Chiarella said, “Certification is an invitation to the party, but you still have to how you are what you say you are.”

She said certification can help an electronics recycler by serving to level the playing field or to differentiate a company from its competition.

Certification also could have the effect of removing a client’s requirement for due diligence and could be viewed as necessary going forward from a marketing standpoint, Delany said.

Johnson said that certification could have the effect of redefining a company’s competitors. He said instead of competing with 80 companies in an area, a certified company would be competing against 12 similarly certified companies in an area. He added that sometimes certification can be the determining factor, all other things being equal.     

In determining which certification to pursue, Chiarella said companies must look at their goals and plan for them. She also noted that the return on a company’s investment in certification is not immediate. “It takes time to see the benefits of certification.”

Delany said, “If you just have a certification and you are not using that to drive your organization to improve performance…you are not going to get the full benefit from that. If you are going to develop a management system because you need it for business reasons, make sure you develop one that really pushes your business into the direction you want it to go so you get the full benefit as opposed to just paying for a certification where you’re not necessarily getting that much benefit.”

Johnson suggested choosing a certification that most appeals to your clients and resounds with them. “The client is the ultimate beneficiary of the certification that you have,” he said.

The Electronics Recycling Conference & Trade Show is organized by the Recycling Today Media Group. The 2009 event will be in Atlanta June 7-9. More information is available at www.RecyclingTodayEvents.com.