The R2 network is making a considerable impact, with ~1,250 R2 Certified facilities in 43 countries processing used electronics responsibly every single day. In 2025, SERI measured that impact for the first time, using calendar-year 2024 data. Highlights include:

• 657,000+ metric tonnes of electronics were processed by R2 Certified facilities.
• 75% of that weight was recycled, resulting in the saving of 15,362 MT of carbon, avoided by not mining virgin materials from the earth.
• But that’s just a part of the story. An even larger impact was from reuse. That 25% by weight was actually 92+ million whole electronics and another 27+ million components reused. The whopping impact from reuse was 4,454,707 MT, 300x more carbon avoided than recycling.

The numbers are significant, and so is the work it takes to maintain the trust R2 signals.

In my end-of-year letter in 2024, I talked about the ramp-up of SERI’s Assurance program. SERI spent thousands of hours in 2025 rooting out impropriety in the R2 network. It has been resoundingly successful and yet never-ending.

If you’re newer to this industry, you may not know that it looks a lot different today than it did in the early 2000’s before certifications like R2 existed. Those days were more like the Wild West — electronics recycling rarely required government permitting, and systems for identifying businesses that met industry best practices were nonexistent. Everyone claimed to do it right, but what was right? And how did you know the difference between the good guys and the bad guys? If you think it’s challenging to get real downstream vendor information today, I assure you it was a lot harder back then to do due diligence, let alone have confidence in what you found.

In 2008, the release of the first R2 standard changed that. R2 created a new bar for electronics reuse and recycling and set the standard, creating a system of accountability to increase confidence in recycling partners. R2 Certification became a way to recognize those who really were doing it right and elevated those players in the market.

Fast forward to today, and R2 has become the baseline standard that customers look for when selecting reuse and recycling partners.

Success attracts all kinds of organizations looking to get in the game. On one hand, it’s been very rewarding to see so many new facilities in all parts of the world level up to achieve R2 Certification. But it has also attracted facilities who don’t subscribe to the same level of ethics and try to hide unscrupulous practices behind the shield of certification. We fully understand that a few bad actors can quickly sour the good that most of the R2 Certified companies have contributed.

While the impact of the R2 network is big, the risks to its credibility are just as large with its continued growth globally. It is incumbent upon everyone relying on the R2 system to be vigilant. See something, say something. Protect your investment. It’s easy to terminate a contract with a vendor who is not meeting the R2 Standard, but nobody else benefits if they remain R2 Certified. We need systems-level change, and that requires you to report it to SERI or the CB. Together, we can improve the R2 system and maintain confidence in R2 Certification to expand capabilities and capacity all around the world.

In 2026, SERI will continue to focus our assurance activities on rooting out the fraud and corruption in the supply chain. We will continue to improve auditor knowledge and CB quality. And we will continue to expand the pool of CBs and auditors in emerging markets to meet the ever-increasing demand for electronics reuse and recycling. Our purpose is to create capabilities and capacities everywhere in the world to responsibly reuse and recycle electronics.

Digitalization is not slowing. Preventing technology from reaching developing countries for reuse creates a greater digital divide. Quality used electronics are needed to bridge the gap. Responsible and reliable supply chains are key to reuse, and building regional recycling capabilities is just as important. We have a lot of work to do, but together we can all prosper if we work together to keep out the bad actors. Even beyond ensuring sustainable and just outcomes, it is necessary for a level playing field that is not undercut by unscrupulous companies willing to cut corners for increased profits. Together, we can lift the great companies committed to proper reuse and recycling. As is always true, we all have a part to play.

ON THE BAN “BROKERS OF SHAME” REPORT…

By now, you likely have heard about BAN’s recent publication called “Brokers of Shame.” In its wake, we’ve been asked to confirm, expel, and even defend specific facilities. But largely, we’ve been quiet on this topic, and I wanted to take a moment to explain why.

While I continue to appreciate and welcome all efforts to expose bad actors, the conversation often devolves into an attack on the R2 Certification program on the whole rather than taking it for what it is – a relatively small percentage of outliers who are going far out of their way to engage in shady, and often illegal, business dealings.

While we don’t accept any number of bad actors, the overwhelming majority of R2 Certified companies are good actors, being regularly audited, and found to be largely conforming to the R2 Standard.

But it is the fraud that keeps me up at night. Fraud is what threatens the credibility of R2 Certification and erodes trust in the system. Catching the fraud and eliminating the poor performers is a shared responsibility because it is a shared risk for everyone who invests in R2 Certification.

I have been doing due diligence of vendors for a long time, as a customer, a recycler, a consultant, and through SERI. I have heard and seen a lot in my own first-hand experience, and there’s a big difference between a facility who earns a nonconformance or two and one who is intentionally committing fraud. I see the games. I recognize the smoke and mirrors. The challenge, many times, is proving it. If I am a customer or a facility selecting a downstream vendor and I see something fishy, I can simply choose not to work with them. If I’m an activist organization, reasonable suspicion might be enough to publicly call them out by name. But when running a large-scale certification program, suspicion isn’t enough to remove a facility when the evidence found during audits supports conformance. Our burden of proof is to uncover what can’t be found in a typical audit and stack that evidence to the point where there is no doubt that fraud is being committed.

For example, exporting sea containers is a normal output of a legitimate recycling operation that recovers metals. Metals like copper, aluminum, tin, etc., are not Basel-controlled. The presence of shipping containers exported to these countries is not evidence of illegal activity, and suspicion isn’t enough to remove an R2 Certified facility. You need to prove what was actually in the container, and that’s the real challenge. If the shipping records are fraudulent, regular auditing won’t get you to the truth.

One reason we tend to stay quiet is that we have many open investigations at various stages of analysis. Certainly, we don’t want to tip off a facility that we are looking at, or worse, name a facility where there are suspicions but no solid proof, and later discover that those suspicions were unfounded.

Let me share some learnings from SERI’s assurance activities.

OFF-BOOK TRANSACTIONS

Despite hours and days of auditing, we have found some bad actors hiding transactions from the auditors. It would be happenstance to find them during a typical audit process. They don’t appear on the outbound summary of transactions or in the downstream vendor flowchart. So, we have improved our own capabilities and data sources to check if all transactions are being disclosed to SERI and the auditors. Off-book transactions will result in termination of the SERI License Agreement for R2 Certification (License) for cause and a prohibition from seeking R2 Certification for at least 2 years.

ILLEGAL EXPORTS FROM THE UNITED STATES

In 2024, SERI educated the community about the Basel E-Waste Amendment taking effect January 1, 2025. This made many non-hazardous e-waste exports from the United States illegal under Basel’s party to non-party trade prohibition in many cases. Unfortunately, some have ignored the advice and have continued the practice of exporting non-hazardous e-waste (Y49) from the U.S. to other countries that are a Basel party. Ignorance of the law is never an excuse. It is the responsibility of every R2 Certified facility to operate in legal compliance. Non-compliance is a non-negotiable for R2 Certified facilities, and this will continue to result in the removal of facilities from R2 Certification.

SHADOW COMPANIES

SERI has found a few R2 Certified companies operating shadow companies in the same facility that is R2 Certified. This is prohibited in the R2 Standard and has resulted in the loss of R2 Certification.

SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Some facilities send token shipments to R2 Certified downstream vendors, while shipping everything else to vendors that do not qualify under Appendix A. This is actively being rooted out and investigated.

FABRICATED RECORDS

Some facilities have even provided fabricated records to SERI and to their Certification Body auditors. This is fraud and results in removal from R2 Certification.

AUDITOR PERFORMANCE

SERI has also discovered auditors who never find nonconformities, and we also uncovered improper relationships with facilities and consultants that impaired the credibility of audits. These situations have been dealt with, some auditors removed, and new controls implemented to strengthen the ethics of the auditor pool. Facilities that were audited by these auditors will be in focus in 2026 spot inspections.

Since SERI is not an activist, we don’t publicize the wrongdoing of companies. Factual status of each R2 Certified facility is regularly updated at r2certified.org. In addition to expanding SERI’s own assurance program, SERI has been working with Certification Bodies every year to improve audit protocols and support auditors. In addition, auditors are required to complete four continuing education courses each year. In 2025, those courses included a focus on auditing legal compliance, focus materials management, and data sanitization. We have seen great improvement in CB auditing, yet it is something we will always need to work on.

As everyone in this business knows, the truth is that it’s not one facility that refurbishes or recycles all the electronics. It’s a complicated network of specialized facilities where used electronics are distributed for specific types of equipment and processing. We appreciate the leads provided in this report, and SERI will continue to investigate any impropriety by these companies, as well as connections to other R2 Certified facilities.

Although not perfect, these certification systems greatly improve how electronics are reused and recycled across the world. We have made tremendous progress since 2008 in building capabilities and capacity around the world. And yet there is so much more work to be done. I am constantly reminded that 62 million metric tonnes of e-waste is generated every year. Instead of trying to collapse these certification systems, we need to focus on how to expand and improve them to fill the gap with responsible reuse and recycling capacity worldwide.

THE RESULT OF SUCCESS

The challenge is that R2 Certification is no longer just a differentiator. It has become a qualifier to get access to supply of used electronics and materials. Over 15 years, R2 Certification has become the most recognized indicator of responsible reuse and recycling in the electronics value chain. And, with that, success has also come the responsibility to facilitate an objective, evidence-based certification program.

A certification program that so profoundly affects the market like R2 must operate with due process. While the program needs to protect the integrity of the R2 Certification mark, it also must avoid anti-trust conflicts. Media reports of suspicious activities aren’t enough to remove a facility that has been independently audited and certified. Factual evidence is necessary.

SERI’s promise to the R2 community is that it will continue working to protect the value of R2 Certification and include all tips in the investigative process. There are many stakeholders in this community, and the more information we share, the stronger we all become.