Surplus Service certifies as a B Corp

Surplus Service, Freemont, California, has announced that it has been certified as a B Corp, joining the ranks of companies such as Ben & Jerry’s, Patagonia and Kickstarter. B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.

According to the company, the B Corp movement is built on the fact that business impacts and serves more than just the shareholder. The movement encourages businesses to be equally responsible to the community and to the planet.

Since Surplus Service was founded in 2006, it has championed the reuse of electronics, keeping e-scrap out of landfills and helping businesses and organizations find ecofriendly solutions to manage the disposal of their surplus electronic equipment, according to the company.

Lou Ramondetta, Surplus Service president, learned of the certification in April 2017. He says he and the company’s employees were ecstatic about the certification, especially because Surplus Service was able to complete the process in about five months. Surplus Service also received a score of about 150 out of 200—one of B Corp’s highest ratings, which shows a company’s impact on its workers, community, environment and customers. It usually takes well over a year to become certified, and the typical B Corp score is between 70 and 80, Surplus Service says.

“We’ve always been interested in what we can do the help the community, other organizations and our employees, so becoming a certified B Corp is naturally a good fit,” Ramondetta says. “It also helps us broaden the message of what we’re doing from a business and environmental standpoint.”

B Corps must meet high standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability, and they aspire to do no harm and benefit all by understanding the need to be dependent on each other and responsible for future generations, Surplus Service says.

Ramondetta says B Corp certification aligns with the company’s core values because Surplus Service is dedicated to being a trusted leader in delivering e-scrap management solutions to businesses and organizations that need to dispose of their surplus electronics.

“What we’re trying to do is upgrade the level of ethics for companies and show them that there is a better way to deal with e-waste,” Ramondetta says.

He adds, “If there were more companies reusing electronics, a lot of the issues with e-waste would be nonexistent.”

The process to become a certified B Corp was a rigorous one that included hundreds of questions in the areas of governance, employees, community, environment and customers, Ramondetta says. Many disclosure documents needed to be provided to meet the criteria and audit reviews.