Photo: Dreamstime
In its “R2 Update” e-newsletter dated March 2018, Boulder, Colorado-based SERI, the housing body for the R2 (Responsible Recycling Practices) Standard, says its board of directors and staff worked together during 2017 to develop SERI’s “2018 Strategic Plan.” The five-year plan stresses three key themes, according to the organization: maximizing conformance within the R2 certification program; increasing responsible electronics refurbishing and recycling through other strategies in developed and developing countries; and measuring and communicating the effects of SERI’s work to stakeholders.
SERI says that while it does not perform certification audits or issue certificates, it can support and monitor the performance of the auditors and certification bodies that do so. Therefore, its “2018 Strategic Plan” calls for more training of auditors and improved communication between SERI and certification body program managers as well as for a systematic review of auditing packages and certification determinations.
“Longer term, the plan calls for evaluation and potential implementation of a database that would enable SERI to track the performance of certified recyclers,” SERI writes in its “R2 Update.” The plan also specifies the evaluation of GPS trackers and other technologies that might serve as tools within the context of a certification program, the organization says.
SERI says its mission “to create a world where electronic products are reused and recycled in a way that promotes resource preservation, the well-being of the natural environment and the health and safety of workers and communities” cannot be achieved through the R2 certification program alone. To that end, the organization says it would like to partner with other entities from the public, private and nongovernmental sectors to address the causes that lead to irresponsible management of used and end-of-life electronics. “This could involve activities in areas such as training, capacity building, policy development and facilitating technology transfer,” SERI says.
According to the March 2018 “R2 Update,” SERI’s board recognized the need to measure the outcomes of the organization’s work and communicate them to the public. Therefore, under its “2018 Strategic Plan,” SERI will seek to use and meet ISEAL’s “Impact Code of Good Practice.” ISEAL is an organization that develops consensus-based “codes,” or policies and procedures, for implementing sustainability certification programs.
SERI says its “2018 Strategic Plan” sets forth “concrete steps for SERI staff to implement over the coming years and a means to measure SERI’s progress as an organization intent on affecting positive change in the environmental performance of the electronics refurbishing and recycling industry.”