Texas moves to require R2, e-Stewards certification - Page 2

Ontario is in some hot water bunch of our e waste got sent to China, gotta love these green peace or e stewards for putting gps transmitters in Scrap and following it over seas.



I have an idea, stop sending precious metals to Asia and process it here and create some jobs, its cheaper to Scrap then it is to mine, only 40% of e waste is recovered here. I'm looking for the rest!!!!

It's my understanding that this law has been voted on and it has unanimously been passed. I work for one of the third party registrars that can certify organizations to R2 and eStewards and we've already seen a large increase in registration requests here in Texas. Auminer, to a degree, you're correct that there are politics involved in some of the decision making, but let's hope that this particular mandate is for the best for our communities (and economy). You may work in a great organization that is doing all the right things, but you would be shocked by how many companies there are that operate with no regard for the environment or their stake holders. This mandate is intended to make life much more difficult for these types of organizations. Companies that are being responsible will also be effected by having to pay for a certification without making any major changes to their business, but it's a similar situation to healthcare coverage (the masses paying for the few). All companies have room to improve operations and their environmental footprint, regardless of how well they operate presently.

These types of federal or state mandates occur across lots of industries more often than one might think. Their intent is to improve the standard of living for the individuals effected by it.

I've read through all of the posts on this particular topic and there seems to be some confusion around the R2 and eStewards standards. These standards are a set of requirements that can be met in various ways (there's no cut and dry right, or wrong). Please feel free to contact me to discuss the standards and I also have access to various free tools to help you to implement a system that conforms to the requirements of eStewards and/or R2 to keep you in compliance. It doesn't have to be a painful experience and from the feedback I've received from my R2 clients, they've found they're able to win new business more easily with the certification and it's actually helped them to cut their operating costs by examining their procedures, and improving them.

Unless they have created a different bill or repackaged this one into other bills, HB 3465 hasn't seen any movement since May when it came out of the committee and was placed on the general calender.

As posted earlier:
Texas Legislature Online
Legiscan.com

Originally Posted by auminer

I've been digging, but haven't yet found a smoking gun... but whatcha wanna bet that there's some kickback business going on here?

Here's what I mean, and bear in mind I HAVE NOT FOUND DIRECT EVIDENCE OF THIS, but this is my suspicion: Scrap metal trade group makes up this really spiffy set of guidelines & for a price, A STEEP PRICE, will 'certify' you as being compliant with these guidelines (which aren't easily found online until you buy a kit from them) then, this trade group (read:PAC) makes campaign donation to state legislator. State legislator introduces a bill requiring people to be compliant with the above mentioned guidelines or face fines.

So... in order to continue to make a living, you have to pay some trade group a couple of thousand dollars for them to wave their magic wand over you & tell you to pretty much carry on as you've already been doing.

THAT's how you make money off of scrapping.

Its a form of business that really seems to be in high gear: Professional Certifications. In the construction industry you got this "group" of people together that were bent on a certain ideal...ie: green building. So they wrote up all these articles and commentaries on their definition of what "green" construction should look like in order to save the earth. Then they appealed to politicians, who were just giddy at the thought of being a savior to the green movement. The politicians passed laws with those guidelines, then gave gov grants/loans/gifts (taxpayer money) to the original group to oversee the implementation of the laws and certification of the industry. They never picked up a 2x4 in their life, but they control what a contractor can and can not do on a job site. Amazing how we come up with ways to make money, eh?

Originally Posted by GlenBroomfield

It's my understanding that this law has been voted on and it has unanimously been passed. I work for one of the third party registrars that can certify organizations to R2 and eStewards and we've already seen a large increase in registration requests here in Texas. Auminer, to a degree, you're correct that there are politics involved in some of the decision making, but let's hope that this particular mandate is for the best for our communities (and economy). You may work in a great organization that is doing all the right things, but you would be shocked by how many companies there are that operate with no regard for the environment or their stake holders. This mandate is intended to make life much more difficult for these types of organizations. Companies that are being responsible will also be effected by having to pay for a certification without making any major changes to their business, but it's a similar situation to healthcare coverage (the masses paying for the few). All companies have room to improve operations and their environmental footprint, regardless of how well they operate presently.

These types of federal or state mandates occur across lots of industries more often than one might think. Their intent is to improve the standard of living for the individuals effected by it.

I've read through all of the posts on this particular topic and there seems to be some confusion around the R2 and eStewards standards. These standards are a set of requirements that can be met in various ways (there's no cut and dry right, or wrong). Please feel free to contact me to discuss the standards and I also have access to various free tools to help you to implement a system that conforms to the requirements of eStewards and/or R2 to keep you in compliance. It doesn't have to be a painful experience and from the feedback I've received from my R2 clients, they've found they're able to win new business more easily with the certification and it's actually helped them to cut their operating costs by examining their procedures, and improving them.

Not to use this as an excuse to do the wrong thing, but wouldn't it be great if our government held our foreign trade partners to the same standards they hold our citizens? We send millions/billions/trillions of $$ of aid to countries that contribute more harm to the ecology than we do here at home. If it is so important for us here, why not make it as painless as possible? Why not do free training, free licensing, and free continuing education for corporations who get the certification? If the rewards are greater than the cost, shouldn't our government fund it? Make it mandatory with regular inspections to catch the "evildoers" who don't comply and fine them for not passing, but stop putting an undue financial burden on those in compliance.

Originally Posted by learning more

There is a definition of manufacturer, or something that says it applies to x,y,and z types of business in there somewhere I saw it earlier, I'll have to find it again.

...
Got it

Sec. 361.959. ENFORCEMENT
(b) The commission and the attorney general, as appropriate, shall enforce this subchapter and, except as provided by Subsections (d) and (e), take enforcement action against any manufacturer, retailer, or person who recycles or reuses computer equipment for failure to comply with this subchapter.

The law isn't really that complicated, what happens is what happened here...Someone takes only a "part" of a law and then applies a meaning to it. If you looked at the whole chapter and started at the beginning you would find most of your answers in "definitions"

Texas Health And Safety Code 361.952 - Definitions :: Lawserver

This chapter is TOTALLY geared to business that refurbish or bid on and sell used equipment. It's doesn't affect an individual using a computer for scrap.

Like another dude said, the particular bill didn't make it very far in the legislative process. I'm sure someone has more on it than me, though.

Also, how would it really affect you average e-scrapper? As for me, I'd still get it and ship it to a buyer on this site, since they pay much, much better than my local yards. Or is this law just going to make it harder to find e-scrap in the first place?

Indeed!