On certifications in ITAD and in the broader electronic recycling space

Lecturer: Rike Sandlin
Rivervista Partners LLC
info@rivervistapartners.com
769-218-9825
Highlights:
• The enterprise IT asset disposition certification landscape includes standards and certifications such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, and RIOS.
• On top of these management system standards are R2, e-Stewards, NAID, ADISA, and other certifications.
• No single certification covers all aspects; enterprises must consider which set of certifications are relevant to their needs.
• Certifications should be seen as a starting point for due diligence and contracting rather than an endpoint.
Rike’s assessment:
The certification landscape that’s relevant to enterprise IT asset disposition has some variations to it. There are standards and certifications that are relevant to management systems, that go beyond ITAD such as ISO 9001 that is a quality certification. Many manufacturers, many other types of organizations, have ISO 9001 certification, but it is a building block for ITAD along with ISO 14001 for the environment, ISO 45001 for health and safety, or RIOS, which is a combination of those. So those are foundational when we are talking about the certification landscape. Built on top of those management system standards is where we start hearing about R2, e-Stewards, NAID, ADISA and other certifications.
But there is not one single standard or one single certification that covers it all. It’s really important for an enterprise to consider which set of certifications are relevant to their own needs and in my opinion, I think that these certifications are a starting point for enterprise due diligence and contracting, it’s not the endpoint.