2004 Export Standards

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The World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association is a non-profit trade association established in 2004. 

WR3A is adapting a "road map" approach to reforming exports for reuse and recycling, and promoting "Fair Trade" between surplus property liquidators and foreign repair and recycling shops.  Our members recognize that problems exist with the export of used goods, and agree to use best available practices to ensure that only quality products are exported for reuse and recycling. 

Until a full committee has time to formally consider and debate the export standards, we have adapted a default set of standards, vetted by Massachusetts DEP, the National Recycling Coalition and Dell Inc., designed to raise the barriers to export of useless and toxic e-waste. For companies exporting working CRTs (monitors and TVs) for refurbishment and reuse:

1. CRT Glass Test:  All agree that NOT EVERY CRT is repairable.  Therefore, companies exporting reuseable CRTs must be able to document where the BAD CRTs are going.

2. Capacity Test:  If not every CRT is exportable, the company must show they have the capacity to recycle the bad monitors.   This generally means showing that sufficient employees or capital investment is in place to account for processing a significant number of bad CRTs.

3. Truthful Bill of Lading:  While market information may be subject to confidentiality, the declared description of goods must be accurate.  Monitors should not be exported as "scrap metal".  We recommend that each and every monitor be identified by year, make, model, country of manufacture and tested condition, so that importers have an opportunity to screen out what they can't repair (e.g. "We don't want to buy pre-1995, or Apple, or dumb terminals").

4. Gold Test:  The demand for gold in Asia (the world's highest consumer PER CAPITA) drives a lot of the importation of non-repairable electronic scrap.  While the WR3A has not taken a position on scrap metal this year, we recommend that members declare their processing records for gold-bearing circuit boards.