Keith Moss from Ontrak Services was nominated for a record 16th term as Chairman and Laura Heywood from Kleen Strike (UK) was nominated as Secretary/Admin for the 15th year. Kate Bradshaw from Promax has been re-elected as Vice-Chairman, Gerry Barnes of GreenCat Co., UKCRA’s Treasurer has moved over to the position of Director and Abbe Coulton from Green Cartridges has been elected as the new Treasurer. Neil Coulton from Green Cartridges and Chris Brooks from Promax have agreed to continue in the capacity of Technical Director for ‘Toners’ and ‘Inkjets’ respectively.
UKCRA chairman, Keith Moss, started by discussing the recession and how it has hit the UK worse than the rest of Europe but also focused on how it is a good time for remanufacturers and the industry should expect a good year ahead, or even a good couple of years. He pointed out that companies need to make sure their relationship with the rest of the industry stays good in order to benefit in these times ahead and said there is no better way than to join UKCRA.
Laura Heywood, of Kleen Strike (UK) and Secretary of UKCRA, mentioned UKCRA’s valuable participation this past year in the final consultation on ‘Revised Waste Exemptions From Environmental Permitting for Waste Exemption Licensing’ that will come into effect in October of this year. She also mentioned the agreement by the EU of a meeting to be held in Brussels to discuss more fully the position of remanufacturers and the relation between toner/inkjet cartridges and imaging equipment covered by the EuP Preparatory Studies on ‘Imaging Equipment’ (LOT 4) Final Report, Task 8.
There was also discussion of UKCRA’s recent carbon footprint study, by Michael Gell of Xanfeon, that has been a success within the industry with no feedback from the OEMs as yet. The carbon footprint study is being distributed with the May issue of Recycler Magazine and is available to view on the UKCRA website: www.ukcra.com.
EPEAT
Laura informed members that she sent DEFRA the carbon footprint report and in response they called her to join the U.S. Project ‘EPEAT’. EPEAT stands for The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, a product registration and verification system and an environmental benefits calculator. It is an environmental rating system for electronics and consists of product standards currently covering desktop, laptop computers, monitors and imaging equipment with the recent inclusion of ‘Air Quality’, ‘Consumables’ and ‘Definitions’. Even though this is a U.S. initiative, it is a universal effort with contributors from as far away as China and will have a far reaching impact across global procurement sectors.
The EPEAT system was developed in a three year stakeholder process supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that included private and public purchasers, manufacturers, environmental advocates, recyclers, technology researchers and environmental agency representatives in order to broaden the scope of the common criteria to include a more environmental approach through the forming of subgroups in each category that are able to discuss and address specific environmental performance concerns.
The EPEAT standard contains 23 mandatory criteria for entry level product registration (Bronze), and 28 optional criteria which qualify products for higher registration tiers (Silver and Gold). The criteria address 11 areas:
· Reduction of toxic materials
· Materials selection – including recycled and bio-based content
· Design for end of life to assist with recycling
· Product longevity – upgrades and spare parts to increase useful life
· Energy Conservation
· End of life management through the OEM
· Corporate environmental performance
· Environmentally preferable packaging (reduced, reusabl