PODCAST TRANSCRIPT:

One of the questions we’re asked most often is “Where is the Guidance Document for the R2v3 standard?” The simple answer to that is: “It’s the Knowledge Base on the SERI website”. That’s the topic of this episode of Ask The R2 Guru. I’m Roger Greive, from SERI – Champions of Electronics Sustainability.

As you listen to this podcast, it might help if you take a look at the actual knowledge base on the SERI website. You can find it at sustainable electronics.org, forward slash knowledge hyphen base (http://sustainableElectronics.org/knowledge-base). It’s by no means essential but you might find it helpful to look at the stuff as I’m talking about each section. I’ll give you a few minutes to get there and while you’re looking for it, let’s talk about the background of the knowledge base and the reasons for the new format.

The old version of the R2 Standard, known as R2:2013 had a guidance document which was a PDF about 60 pages long that clarified a lot of the requirements in that version of the R2 standard. Every time we made a change to Guidance, which was not that often, everyone had to first hear about the change, then download a new version of PDF and then remember to discard the old version. The new knowledge base is a living document. It’s an online collection of instructional tools, forms and clarifications of the various requirements in the R2 standard delivered in a variety of formats.

With the new structure of the R2v3 Standard, we decided that the old Guidance document needed a new structure as well, so we expanded beyond a single print document to include videos, podcasts and more extensive examples to help clarify R2v3. The Collected materials in the Knowledge Base will help R2 facilities in their transition to R2v3. They are designed to be informative and helpful if you are working with a consultant or managing the R2v3 transition on your own.

If you’ve decided to look at the Knowledge Base while listening to the rest of this podcast, I hope you’ve made it over there by now. Let’s dive in…

There are 10 boxes on the page, covering different topic areas of R2v3, plus one more box with the archived information from the older version of the R2 standard. At the very top of the knowledge base page, you’ll see a link to a brief video tour and the search bar. Type in your topic or a couple of keywords, then click on the number of search results and a separate page will open showing what we found for you.

The mobile version of the knowledge base has 10 topic boxes visible one at a time as you scroll down the page. The laptop browser version has them in rows of three. I will be talking about these topic boxes three at a time. The first three are Getting Certified, our Video Library, and our Podcast Library. Getting certified is a great place to start. Here’s where you can download the R2v3 standard, the R2 Equipment Categorization Document, or REC, and the Code of Practices. You can also click on the calendar if you wish to participate in one of the free intro to R2v3 seminars that SERI offers regularly. There’s also a summary of the Standard in a colorful PDF, a chart of key steps of the certification process, instructional sheets to help you find a Certification Body or an R2v3 consultant, plus a preview of the SERI license agreement and some tools and tips for your R2v3 audit.

The Video Library is pretty self-explanatory—some instructions to translate into different languages, a brief video of definitions and an overview of the standard, and then a couple of videos for each of the 10 Core requirements and the six Process requirements or Appendices. You’ll find the same videos by the way under each of the listings for the Core Requirements and Appendices to make the information easy to find all in one place. These videos are an excellent way to become familiar with the way the R2v3 standard is structured. Remember that your facility will be audited to one or more of the Appendices, and you will determine which ones are for your facility as you begin the R2v3 transition process.

The Podcast library is the next topic. If you don’t subscribe to the podcast through Apple podcasts or Spotify, you can find them all here. Just click on the episode topic you want to either listen or to read the transcript of the entire podcast. If you click on episode six by the way, you can read what I’m going to say next…

The next three topic boxes are really the heart of the knowledge base. This is where you’ll find most of the information on the ten Core Requirements, the six Process Requirements or Appendices and Common Questions and Answers about R2v3.

The structure and function of two of these — Core Requirements and Process Requirements – are exactly the same so we’ll talk about them both at the same time. The first item is translation instructions for the videos so that all R2v3 facilities can watch the videos with subtitles in their own language. After that, there’s an overview of each section. Each Core requirement or appendix has the same structure. First, two videos for that section — an introductory video and then details of its implementation in the second video. After that, if there’s any document or tool that is essential to fulfill the requirements of that section, that tool is listed first, right after the videos. For instance, in Core Requirement 7, there are the two videos, and then the guidance tool that helps you create the data sanitization plan for that requirement. After that, in each of these sections there’s a drop-down menu of related articles where you will find more information, some examples and questions and answers specifically on each requirement or appendix.

When we did this, we realized that not everybody knows what’s in each Core requirement or appendix, especially during the first time facilities are being certified to R2v3. That’s why we created a separate topic area for questions and answers. They are separated into core requirements and process requirements but it’s possible to look through the entire list to find answers that way as well. And by the way, as we receive questions about R2v3 through the website, meetings or phone calls, a lot of our answers will end up in this part of the knowledge base so that other people who have the same question can find their answer.

The next three topic boxes for the R2v3 Standard contain a lot of useful information about the Code Of Practices and the R2v3 Program, Auditor Training and Resources, and Other Information and Resources. In the Code of Practices and Program Information box you’ll have an opportunity to download the R2v3 standard, the Equipment Categorization Document and the Code of practices. You can also preview the SERI license agreement. There are a couple of videos and several articles on the code of practices, new procedures for nonconformities, details of how to transfer certification bodies, instructions if you move your facility, and how to appeal audit findings.

And speaking of audits, the Auditor Training Resources section of the Knowledge Base contains a lot of interesting and helpful information even if you’re not an R2v3 auditor.

The next topic box contains other information and resources. These materials are not written by SERI but included here because we thought they were interesting and helpful to R2v3 facilities. A lot of the information here comes from Microsoft and iFixIt and we thank them both for their cooperation.

The 10^th and final topic box about R2v3 is a collection of published articles written by SERI and collected here for additional background reading on topics we thought you might find interesting.

One additional topic box is the collected information from the previous version of the R2 standard, called R2:2013. You’re probably familiar with it already, but it’s collected here in one place for reference.

And finally, once you’ve looked through the entire contents of the knowledge base, perhaps the most helpful feature is the Recently Added column. It’s the topic box at the very bottom of the mobile version and you’ll find it running along the entire right-hand edge of the knowledge base page on your laptop or desktop computer. This is where you’ll find links to all the new materials that have been added to the knowledge base since the last time you looked. And if you follow SERI on LinkedIn, you’ll receive an alert each time something new is added. You can also subscribe to our newsletter which will update you on all the new stuff relating to R2v3, including any new materials added to the knowledge base. Just click the subscribe button at the bottom of most pages on the SERI website.

Compared to the 58 pages of the printed version of the old guidance document, the SERI Knowledge Base has over 200 linked pages, all our podcasts and 35 videos. And that collected information is constantly growing. We hope you agree that in addition to saving a lot of paper, a living online document was the way to go when providing materials to help R2v3 facilities around the world become certified to the R2v3 Standard.

As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Ask The R2 Guru and found it helpful. Thanks to Sean DeVries, Sarah Kim and Jeff Siebert for their assistance in producing this podcast series. If you have any questions or comments or want to suggest a topic for a future podcast, please use the contact us form on the SERI website. You’ll find that at SustainableElectronics.org.