Q and A: What is planned for the WR3A?

Is membership free?
WR3A's Executive Board has debated the issue of fees. We would like WR3A to be sustainable and to provide the best possible value to our members. However, we would like members to vote on fees rather than set them arbitrarily. When you join the WR3A, one way to "vote" for sustainability is to pay the suggested annual membership fee on the attached application.

Is WR3A a cooperative marketing association?
For legal reasons we have incorporated as a trade association at this time. Whether WR3A brokers material directly or facilitates brokerage will depend on legal restrictions vis-ŕ-vis our non-profit status. We are NOT a 501-c(3) charity, and don't plan to be; the primary beneficiaries will be our members (and the environment).

Does the WR3A guarantee that members are not exporting toxic junk?
No. We are a new organization without full time staff and we cannot guarantee that members are behaving according to our standards. However, we will kick out members we catch violating those standards. We are not trying to get rich on membership fees. It would be foolish to join WR3A without accepting our goals.

Does the WR3A guarantee that members are not accepting or importing toxic junk?
Not at this time. However, as the number of members providing items for resale through the WR3A increases, we will use the cooperative volume of product to enforce best practices among our buyers. We may make cleanup of an old site a condition of new quality product sales, or may drop a buyer if we find they are buying large quantities from USA exporters who are not meeting WR3A standards.

Does the WR3A determine which exports are legal under international, USA, or foreign laws?
No. Our Executive Board speaks several languages, includes international relations degree holders, former regulatory officials, etc. We are more qualified than most as to what those laws are, and hope to provide resources assisting members and non-members in complying with those laws.
However, there is wide disagreement about the interpretation of laws even in the USA (e.g. see court cases concerning commodity vs. waste), and we have seen foreign rules against "dumping" in a "below cost" sense mis-translated as dumping in a waste disposal sense. Laws will be subject to the courts.

Does the WR3A support black market refurbishment?
The accepted term of "gray market" shows that it is very difficult to tell when patents trump resale of personal property. Some ink cartridges, for example, are refilled and relabeled with a new name. Others are relabeled with the original name left on. Others are repackaged fraudulently as counterfeit ink cartridges without the manufacturers consent.

We have seen both legitimate refurbishers and black market counterfeiters arrested under the same laws in some countries.

While it would be simpler for manufacturers to stop counterfeiting if all reuse was banned, WR3A believes that would be bad for consumers, bad for the environment, and basically throwing the baby out with the bath water.

What are anticipated benefits to WR3A members in coming years?
WR3A hopes to provide standards, load inspections, overseas site inspections, dispute resolution, networking, and news releases concerning reuse, repair and recycling worldwide.

WR3A plans to work with the USA's network of TV and monitor repair people to provide pre-inspections of loads for export. We plan to provide cooperative purchase order fulfillment (allowing overseas refurbishers to fill their entire demand via a patchwork of WR3A members) and cooperatively-financed site due diligence inspections. We have already been offered a price premium by several overseas refurbishers if we are successful in reducing the number of "bad" loads they are importing.

WR3A will provide a standard where USA recyclers can keep their prices down, rather than feel forced to "destroy" working monitors out of fear of being labeled "an exporter". WR3A will allow digital divide and refurbishing organizations with a process to guarantee loads without personally inspecting every sale (a "fly and buy" method which has become de rigeur for large buyers who have been "burned" on bad loads).

WR3A will also assist generators, government agencies, and other organizations seeking advice and technical assistance on what the "reality" of electronics recycling and exports.

Learn more at our website www.wr3a.org The World Reuse, Repair, and Recycling AssociationŠ is incorporated in Vermont in 2004. All rights reserved.