On the future of certification
Highlights:
• Certification programs have broad rules and requirements that ITAD companies must follow to ensure appropriate equipment handling.
• There are challenges associated with dealing with the proliferation of IoT devices, smart TVs, communication devices, etc.
• Certification programs and processes are evolving to answer key questions such as how data can be erased in bulk and how equipment can be reused and recycled properly.
• BAN has addressed ITAD versus recycling issues with different materials.
• Standards continue to evolve to address the challenges of each era they are in.
Rike’s assessment:
The great thing about the standards of certification programs is that they do have flexibility and broad rules and broader
requirements that an ITAD company has to follow, regardless of the type of equipment. For example, the earbuds that you’re wearing are not specifically defined in any of the standards, but an earbud has a small circuit board, a battery, and other things. But the rules that are put in place are intended to be broad so that the ITAD company or recycler can operate within those rules, as equipment changes and other things change, whether it’s AI, whether it’s more portability and mobility, with laptops, tablets, mobile phones all gaining in capability. We’re seeing the proliferation of Internet-of-Things type devices and intelligent devices that people can use to connect. So, I don’t think that the ITAD companies have figured out how to deal with all those things in the best way because the manufacturers and the developers of these technologies haven’t considered the end of life or reuse cycle effectively. Those are some key questions that I think we’ll see evolution on in the future. Hopefully we’ll have more responsible design and development programs in place that would consider, for instance, how do we clear the data on this device, how do we deal with smart TV, an appliance, or a communication device? How do we enable reuse? How do we properly allow for safe and proper handling and recycling at the end of life? We want to reuse these devices, but there’s not an effective way to erase the data in bulk, for example. If I’ve got 1,000 of these devices, how do I do that effectively and efficiently as an ITAD company? How do the certification programs deal with those challenges is something that we’ll see more of. Another example is about the different approaches to certification depending on what processes companies have. They’re actually developing a new process right now for solar panels because we’re starting to get to that point in society where the first solar panels that were deployed a decade or two ago, are starting to come out of service. And so, the proper handling, reuse and recycling of that equipment is an open question, and so they’re working towards the future to make sure that there are proper rules in place. So, I’m excited to see that. I know BAN has done some similar things with some of the ITAD versus recycling of different types of equipment and different materials like plastics, and that’s been a challenge. So, there’s a lot going on out there and these standards are not static, they’re very dynamic, they definitely evolve and address the challenges of each era that they’re in.