World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association
Encyclopedia
The World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association (WR3A) is a business consortium
dedicated to the reform of the trade of e-waste. The WR3A is inspired by fair trade
organizations.
. The CRTs are knocked down to the bare tube, which is inserted into a new TV or monitor case, complete with new tuner board, etc. WR3A founders observed that the junk CRTs imported into China's Guiyu province were leftovers of functional CRTs purchased by the factories. While the Chinese government, which invested and owns new CRT manufacturing factories, shut many of these operations down as gray market activities in 2006, many of the assembly factories were relocated to other countries.
WR3A proposed to form a coalition of USA companies to export only the good CRT monitors directly to the reuse factories, removing imploded, damaged, screen-burned, older, or non-compliant raster (e.g. Trinitron) CRTs from loads destined for CRT factories. The USA companies which remove and recycle the bad 1/3 of CRTs would benefit from higher prices, and the Chinese factories would bypass the sorting villages such as Guiyu. The WR3A was swamped by orders from Asian factories that year.
The Chinese government, which took over most of the new CRT manufacturing capacity worldwide in the 1990s, opposed the import of used CRTs. Many of the factory owners, relocated their businesses in 2006 and 2007 to countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Others relocated their used monitor sourcing operations only to Hong Kong and Vietnam, trucking the CRTs overland to Chinese factories. The USA has its own factory, Video Display Corp of Tucker, Georgia.
The organization is pursuing a strategy of increasing used electronics exports through fair trade agreements, under the principle that if used computer exports are outlawed, only outlaws will export used computers.
In January 2009, the organization presented statistics and a film at the Keynote Address of the CES 2009 in Las Vegas. The statistics demonstrated that the rate of growth of internet access is much higher in countries with very low incomes. It is logically unlikely that this growth can be achieved with new computers. The WR3A also presented film of the reuse and refurbishing operations which demonstrate proper recycling practices and best available practices in these ten countries.
On May 15, 2009, National Public Radio's (NPR) program Living On Earth profiled one of WR3A's members - a women's cooperative
doing TV repair and recycling in Mexico.
On July 30, 2010, Discovery News presented an analysis contrasting WR3A's "fair trade" engagement approach with the Basel Action Network
's (BAN) "trade restriction" approach, and abstained from choosing sides.
In October, 2010, WR3A announced a partnership with Basel Action Network to reduce unnecessary breakage and destruction of working computer monitors in California, under California SB20 laws. This followed a report critical of California "cancellation" policies published in the Sacramento Bee on July 19, 2010.
In March, 2011. WR3A was profiled in Motherboard.tv, for the organization's case that reduced exports of used electronics by "stewards" was having unintended consequences.
In May, 2011, WR3A was interviewed as part of an "e-waste" by German news magazine ZDF.Kultur http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/video/1352178/E-Waste, which investigated the assumptions that African imports were "primitive" and linked exports to Egypt's Green Revolution.
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
dedicated to the reform of the trade of e-waste. The WR3A is inspired by fair trade
Fair trade
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...
organizations.
History
WR3A is a Fair Trade association established to improve the export markets for surplus electronics and e-waste. WR3A was established in 2006 following a visit to China by a group including a USA electronics recycler (American Retroworks Inc.), a University of California Davis recycling program director, and a Seattle recycler with a zero-export policy. The group visited three of China's semi knock down factories. Those factories purchased USA computer monitors which still have functional CRTsCathode ray tube
The cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun and a fluorescent screen used to view images. It has a means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam onto the fluorescent screen to create the images. The image may represent electrical waveforms , pictures , radar targets and...
. The CRTs are knocked down to the bare tube, which is inserted into a new TV or monitor case, complete with new tuner board, etc. WR3A founders observed that the junk CRTs imported into China's Guiyu province were leftovers of functional CRTs purchased by the factories. While the Chinese government, which invested and owns new CRT manufacturing factories, shut many of these operations down as gray market activities in 2006, many of the assembly factories were relocated to other countries.
WR3A proposed to form a coalition of USA companies to export only the good CRT monitors directly to the reuse factories, removing imploded, damaged, screen-burned, older, or non-compliant raster (e.g. Trinitron) CRTs from loads destined for CRT factories. The USA companies which remove and recycle the bad 1/3 of CRTs would benefit from higher prices, and the Chinese factories would bypass the sorting villages such as Guiyu. The WR3A was swamped by orders from Asian factories that year.
The Chinese government, which took over most of the new CRT manufacturing capacity worldwide in the 1990s, opposed the import of used CRTs. Many of the factory owners, relocated their businesses in 2006 and 2007 to countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Others relocated their used monitor sourcing operations only to Hong Kong and Vietnam, trucking the CRTs overland to Chinese factories. The USA has its own factory, Video Display Corp of Tucker, Georgia.
The organization is pursuing a strategy of increasing used electronics exports through fair trade agreements, under the principle that if used computer exports are outlawed, only outlaws will export used computers.
Recent activities
The WR3A was contracted as a consultant to the US Environmental Protection Agency for its July 2008 publication Electronic Waste Management in the United States.In January 2009, the organization presented statistics and a film at the Keynote Address of the CES 2009 in Las Vegas. The statistics demonstrated that the rate of growth of internet access is much higher in countries with very low incomes. It is logically unlikely that this growth can be achieved with new computers. The WR3A also presented film of the reuse and refurbishing operations which demonstrate proper recycling practices and best available practices in these ten countries.
On May 15, 2009, National Public Radio's (NPR) program Living On Earth profiled one of WR3A's members - a women's cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
doing TV repair and recycling in Mexico.
On July 30, 2010, Discovery News presented an analysis contrasting WR3A's "fair trade" engagement approach with the Basel Action Network
Basel Action Network
The Basel Action Network is an non-governmental charitable organization working to combat the export of toxic waste, toxic technology and toxic products from industrialized societies to developing countries. BAN operates globally but is based in Seattle, Washington, United States, with a partner...
's (BAN) "trade restriction" approach, and abstained from choosing sides.
In October, 2010, WR3A announced a partnership with Basel Action Network to reduce unnecessary breakage and destruction of working computer monitors in California, under California SB20 laws. This followed a report critical of California "cancellation" policies published in the Sacramento Bee on July 19, 2010.
In March, 2011. WR3A was profiled in Motherboard.tv, for the organization's case that reduced exports of used electronics by "stewards" was having unintended consequences.
In May, 2011, WR3A was interviewed as part of an "e-waste" by German news magazine ZDF.Kultur http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitrag/video/1352178/E-Waste, which investigated the assumptions that African imports were "primitive" and linked exports to Egypt's Green Revolution.