Redemtech takes stewardship pledge

Recycling Today, June, 2004

The Computer TakeBack Campaign, a coalition of environmental groups, has approved Redemtech's Electronics Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship.

The Pledge, which is sponsored by Computer TakeBack members Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) of San Jose, Calif., and Basel Action Network (BAN) of Seattle, calls for recyclers to "uphold the world's most rigorous environmental and social criteria" for the recycling of electronic scrap, according to a release from Redemtech.

In signing the Pledge, Redemtech, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, has vowed to continue to prevent hazardous electronic components from being sent to municipal incinerators or to landfills, exported to developing countries or dismantled by prison labor. The company also has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that the entire recycling chain, including downstream intermediaries and recovery operations, is meeting all applicable environmental and health regulations.

"Redemtech is unique in the recycling market for its commitment to the reuse of electronic assets and for considering recycling as an option in the process of handling legacy waste only after all possible means of reuse have been applied," Ted Smith, executive director of SVTC, says.

"Redemtech has always operated on the assertion that the best use for maturing technology is the highest use," Redemtech President Bob Houghton says. "That means reuse whenever possible."