We’re further down the path of R2 certification since my last blog post two weeks ago. As a refresher to those unfamiliar with R2, it’s a third-party standard and certification process that guarantees that an electronic recycler is doing the right thing with all the nasty things in electronics, such as circuit boards, leaded glass, fluorescent lamps and toner. This means tracking the materials to their final destination, and ensuring that these materials are recycled properly. It also means that the recycler has demonstrated they’ve developed a resilient, comprehensive system for managing internal health, safety and environmental issues, that is engineering by design to be self-auditing and constantly improving.

Being certified shouldn’t change the way 3R Technology does business. We’re already very confident about our business practices, our accident prevention program and EHSMS (Environmental Health, Safety Management System), and our choice of downstream vendors.

However, it give us the opportunity to more comprehensively document everything we do, and to prove and hold us accountable for excellence in these areas to the larger community.

In order to be audited and certified, we have to select an R2 Registrar. We have a choice from 5 different auditing organizations. In theory, it shouldn’t matter which registrar we choose, but we have found that there are significant differences in cost and more importantly, individual experience of the auditors contracted. We’re of course trying to be cost-effective, but we’re also trying to make sure to choose an auditing body that understands R2, has experience with the electronics recycling industry, and legislation programs, like the e-Cycle WA program.

We’ve also been collecting extensive information from each of our downstream vendors, in order to complete our diligence in this area. In addition to an 11-page questionnaire we’ve created, they’re required to provide proof of liability and pollution insurance, closure plans, copies of federal, state, and local environmental and business permits, and reports of any environmental or safety citations they have ever received.

For those interested in the process and our mission with R2, I uploaded our Updating our 3R Technology R2 Environmental Policy Statement.

Fittingly enough, the beginning of the 3R Technology blog comes at the end of something else – 2011.

We’ve had many changes at our electronics recycling company over the last nine years. 2011 was no exception: an entirely new facility and all the exciting aspects and challenges that go with it. Like an intense week of moving trailer load after trailer load of equipment, furniture, pallets of material, and inventory. Even with all the careful planning, everything takes longer than expected, and you barely have time to look around you after all the boxes are unpacked, and then it’s time to jump right back into all the aspects of running a business that keep it afloat.

We’ve had new staff come on board on 2011, and inevitably some move on. We’ve added some new downstream vendors after the necessary diligence. We’ve modified some of the organization of the company. And we document, document, document! I tell myself change is good, but it’s incredible how much changes occurs over the course of a given period of time – whether a month, a year, or a decade – that we hardly mark. I find myself so busy that I don’t have time to reconcile all the differences that the changes have brought.

So sometimes, during the course of the nearly nine years that 3R Technology has been in operation, after everyone has gone home and most of the lights are off, and I’m not ready to dive into the remaining things on my to-do list, I take a few minutes to walk the aisles… With most of the lights off, and just the sound of the clock, a few buzzing fluorescent lights, and the traffic outside, I suspect that I’m in concert with the millions of other business owners that pause at the end of the day and look around. I’ll poke into the gaylords of recycled material and find a few things out of place and put them in the right bin. I might check out the hard drive wiping stations and swap a few drives out for the night. Looking at the retail shelves, I might straighten a few shelves of inventory or pause to look at some new items for sale that I hadn’t seen before.

It’s been a few months since I’ve done the ‘walk’, and it felt appropriate to do it tonight. While I walked and looked around, I noted a few things that were left undone to add to the closing checklist. I made some notes for the next staff meeting. Mostly, though, I felt a mixture of pride, nostalgia, satisfaction and perhaps a sense of the impermanence of things. This business essentially started in my basement many years ago, and now we’ve grown to a 12,000 sq. ft. facility with 11 employees. One can plan, create contingencies, and do all the research in the world, but the future is never guaranteed. I feel extremely blessed that we have a great group of people here that comprise 3R Technology. We’re all dedicated to the mission of recycling, but at the same time, everyone has their own unique, interesting life story that they bring to the company. We’ve been able to maintain employment for people and to pay our vendors in an economic environment that’s been uncertain at best.

Recycling reminds me of the transitory nature of things. As I’ve remarked on many an occasions to retail staff, “We’re not running an antique store!” What comes in here can’t stay long. Through our doors comes new technology and old and everything in, and our goal is singular for all of it: refurbish it, find a new home for it, or recycle it. So, in a strange way, we’re so used to a changing landscape of material coming through here, that we take change…for granted.

We’ve got a lot of exciting challenges coming up in the new year. Right out of the gate, we’re beginning the process of R2 certification, a third-party standard that will provide even greater assurance to our customers that we’re managing their end-of-life material in the most environmentally friendly and safety-conscious manner possible. I’m planning to provide updates in the blog that might be interesting to those curious about what a 3-party auditing and certification process is like.

Thanks to everyone that’s made 3R Technology possible. And Happy New Year to everyone! – Glen