R2 certified companies contribute to ‘steady source of revenue’

United States – Companies that would like to remain certified for responsible electronics recycling practices (R2) will be required to pay an annual fee of US$ 1500, non-profit organisation R2 Solutions has announced. The fee will accompany some other revisions to the standard and will take effect on 1 July.

‘We had a really difficult time with the decision and recognise it will impose a burden on some of the very small recyclers,’ comments John Lingelbach, executive director of R2 Solutions. However, the organisation needed ‘a steady source of revenue’ to maintain and grow the standard. The only ‘logical place’ to acquire the funds was from the people benefiting directly from it, Lingelbach argues.

R2 Solutions says that 383 facilities worldwide are currently certified, suggesting potential fee income of more than US$ 500 000 per year.

Despite the financial boost this could provide, Lingelbach admits he would rather have found a different solution. ‘We just don’t know what else to do,’ he added. ‘We’ve tried to make it as small as we think makes the organisation viable and yet there is still some concern that some companies that are currently certified that will choose not to pay or in some real sense just can’t afford the cost of it.’

Non-profit organisations will receive a discount, but smaller facilities will be treated like all other commercial operators, Lingelbach said. He commented that sliding fee scales adopted by other systems had proved unpopular.

While some R2-certified companies were ‘awfully small’, he concluded: ‘If a company is so small that it can’t afford the fee then perhaps it’s too small to be doing all the things that are necessary in the standard to protect the environment, health and safety and data security.’

For more information, visit: www.r2solutions.org

Source: Waste & Recycling News