WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

World Reuse, Repair & Recycling

Association = WR3A
Mission: Make recycling more affordable by spending less
money smashing good stuff and earning more money
fixing bad stuff.
Means: Fair Trade Recycling, to ensure a properly vetted,
audited, transparent, legal and efficient export market,
and USA contracts which reward that market.
Members: Generators (universities, state government,
businesses, municipalities, non-profits), Recyclers
(“Pledgers” and “New Leafers”), and Overseas reuse end
markets (BSFs, repair shops, and UNGAID/schools).
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Fair Trade Recycling

• Ethical E-Scrap Export Agreements
• Enforceable Civil Law Contracts
• Qualifying Export Markets
• Qualifying USA Exporters
• QA/QC =
Quality Assurance, Quality Control
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Case Study: Video Display Units

• Spike in “working CRTs” from fall in LCD price
• Mature CRT repair and refurbishing
• Price point important to 3b3k
• 3b3k = about 3 billion people earning about 3k
per year.
• 3b3k increasing internet access 10X USA rate
• Video display is over 50% of price of unit in
developing countries.
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

“ 3b3k ”
“about 3 billion people make about $3 thousand per year”

• World Population is 6.8b

• Average income is $7k per year
• 20% richest of countries earn ‘at least’ 7k,
so average of 80% is $3500
• 20% richest earn 35K/year average
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

2008 CES Grant

• Selected 10 countries including USA
• Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal,
Peru, Senegal (range from $1K – $10k
per capita, average around 3k)
• Film of reuse and repair operations
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

4 Export Categories
• Fully Functional for Retail or immediate use
– Working, warrantee, legal for export
– 2 hour burn in test
• Functional for Refurbishment, Repair
– Binding Purchase Order
– Reconciliation and 3 years record keeping
– Contract is legal in both countries
– Enforceable under civil law
• Recyclable Commodity
– Clean, uniform, graded (ISRI-RIOS)
• No Disposal (never to non-OECD) or TAR
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

WR3A Shipments
• 1st Half 2008
• 2nd Half 2008
• 1st Half 2009
• 2nd Half 2009 YTD
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Ethical E-Scrap Export Agreements

• Meet R2 Standards or E-Steward?

• Meet EPA CRT Export Rule
• Set a basis for QA/QC
• Recordkeeping and improvement
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Category 1: Tested Working vs. Key

Functionality
• Big debate at R2
• Examples: Multi-function copier without a
working fax, LCD without a power adapter, CRT
with non-working 110v power supply
• For WR3A, TW is the “UN” schools market.
Warm fuzzies but less competent
• Several national E-Stewards will not allow us
even to test equipment for them, and destroy
rather than test.
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Functional for Refurbishment

Export for Refurbishment and Repair is largest category of intact CRTs

• “BSF” = Big Secret

Factory
• Original Equipment
Assembly and
Warrantee Repair
shops
• 1000+ employees
• 100,000 units per
month and up
• “White Box”, “SKD”
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Category 2: Functional for Refurbishment

• WR3A Purchase Orders – 60,000 CRTs per month
• 15 Grades of CRT
• Pre-Qualification of USA supplier
• Audits of Overseas Refurbishers (to R2 Standards)
• Must track “incidental breakage” and properly recycle or re-export
it
• Incentives and rewards for:
– National EPA inspections (4x per year in Malaysia)
– ISO14001
– EH&S Programs
Goal: All states and universities incorporate “Fair Trade” and RIOS
standards into state contracts – which are enforceable by state AG
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Functional for Refurbishment

• Pre-Qualification of USA supplier
– CRT Glass Test
– PC Boards Test
– Employees per Ton
– Sea Containers per Ton
• Audits of Overseas Refurbishers (to R2 Standards)
– Finished Product Samples (acceptable material)
– Legal import permit
– Management of de Minimus, incidental breakage

Advantages of Frequent 80-20 Rule Audit vs. one-time “snapshot” audit

WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Functional for Refurbishment

Because the Refurbishers are bound by the WR3A Purchase Order
to track, and either properly recycle or ship back “incidental
breakage” we are creating recyclers in Malaysia, Mexico, Egypt
and Peru. Covered on NPR, PBS, and trade periodicals, we got
an $85k grant in October 2009 to operate a “Cash for Clunkers”
program in Mexico, taking one junk CRT out for every one resold.
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Units shipped by WR3A

50,000
45,000
40,000
35,000
30,000
25,000 Series1
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
-
1Q 08 2Q 08 3Q 08 4Q 08 1Q 09 2Q 09 3Q 09
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

Total 105,052 units RM335,027.50 income

units $ containers Price per unit Fallout

1Q 08 9,255 47,039 9 RM 5.08 5%

2Q 08 10,791 97,044 13 RM 8.99 8%
3Q 08 10,232 49,827 9 RM 4.87 7%
4Q 08 13,693 120,813 20 RM 8.82 11%
1Q 09 10,163 31,706 18 RM 3.12 4%
2Q 09 17,123 44,455 9 RM 2.60 8%
3Q 09 44,131 21,216 63 RM 0.48 n/a
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

“QA / QC”
• TPISEOTG is difficult
to understand
• Brokered loads
• Misdirected
containers
• Delay in response to
market changes
• Misunderstandings
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

How might a prohibition on e-

scrap exports make overseas
dumping even worse?

World Reuse, Repair & Recycling Assoc. 2006

WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

World Supply and Demand

• Approximately 3 billion people earn
approximately $3,000 per year.
• Rate of internet access is 10X USA
• BAN “hopes” they will “leapfrog” the USA
and get better, newer computers than we
have.
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling
Triangle Trade
WR3A Standard = 30% domestic recycling

USA Suppliers
100,000

70,000 100,000 30% TAR

Brokers Strippers
WR3A
70,000

Factory remanufacturing 70-80,000 SKD / month

5% failure

World Reuse, Repair & Recycling Assoc. 2006

WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

WR3A Fair Trade Model ‘07

• WR3A established a major purchase
order in ’07 for 80,000 used CRTs per
month to manufacturing plants (of 70k per
day capacity)
• The CRTs are sold for $10 CIF
• The OEM produces a fallout report on
each shipment

World Reuse, Repair & Recycling Assoc. 2006

WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

WR3A Fair Trade Model

• Cut out middleman where bad tubes are
discarded as TAR
• Eventually, the OEM plans to establish end-of-
life recycling at the SKD plants
• Revenues from good CRTs lowered the
average cost of recycling to 10 cents per pound
(vs. 28 cents in CA)

World Reuse, Repair & Recycling Assoc. 2006

WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

4 Confessions
• Viagra in Egypt
• Mystery 21s
• E-Steward reversals
• Oversupply and market disruption under PO
• R4 Education

Imperfect. But none of these would have been avoided

by a Tested Working standard. What we do have is
transparency and QA/QC, the basis of ISO and OSHA.
WR3A = Fair Trade Recycling

More Info, or Send Ideas

www.wr3a.org

The World Reuse, Repair & Recycling

Association (WR3A)
Middlebury, Vermont USA