regulation/oversight

E-scrap facilities with R2 certification will face stricter audits beginning this year as auditors shift their focus to outcome rather than policy. Certification to the R2 standard indicates a facility has met certain environmental and worker health and safety standards. Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI) administers the standard and provides auditor tr

Despite having a CRT glass recycling furnace in place in New York, Nulife Glass has for years had difficulty coming into compliance with state facility rules. Nulife began processing up to 10 tons per day earlier this year at its Dunkirk, N.Y. facility.

[caption id="attachment_1846" align="alignright" width="300"] CRT glass at Closed Loop's S 59th. Ave site in Phoenix.

Millions of pounds of CRT devices abandoned by Utah's Stone Castle Recycling continue to plague local communities.

According to a pair of articles appearing April 5 in the Salt Lake Tribune, six former locations of Stone Castle remain piled high with CRT devices. Company CEO Anthony Stoddard "has not paid for any of his defunct recycling centers or their cleanup," the newspaper states.

All 10 citations levied against COM2 Computers and Technologies LLC by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration will be cleared by the end of the month, following a settlement agreement made between the agency and the company Oct. 16.

OSHA had alleged that the Carol Stream, Illinois processor had violated air quality and worker safety practices relating to lead exposure at one of its facilities.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued 11 citations against dual-certified e-scrap processor COM2 Computers and Technologies LLC, but the company says it is meeting with the agency next week to contest the allegations.

COM2 was certified to both e-Stewards and R2 at its Carol Stream, Illinois facility in the Fall of 2011, using AQA International, approximately seven months before the alleged violations were observed by OSHA.

CRT glass may be heading to California landfills — legally. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control has issued an emergency regulation that will allow recycling firms in the state to send some of their CRT glass material to approved landfills.