REAV

Glossary

R2v3

Responsible Recycling, version 3

The SERI certification standard for electronics reuse and recycling facilities, covering data security, environment, health and safety.

R2v3 was released by Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI) in July 2020 and is the most widely recognised certification for facilities handling used electronics. It combines core requirements applying to every certified site with process-specific appendices covering activities such as data sanitisation, test and repair, and materials recovery.

A notable change from earlier versions: R2v3 brought data sanitisation requirements inside the standard instead of deferring to external references such as NAID, ADISA or NIST 800-88, and it verifies outcomes rather than only procedures.

R2v3 is not the only mark in the field. WEEELABEX is the European standard for WEEE treatment, ADISA focuses on data-destruction assurance, e-Stewards emphasises export restrictions, and ISO 9001 and 14001 cover management systems, not electronics specifically. Enterprise and public buyers frequently treat one or more of these as an eliminating criterion, which makes certification a commercial question as much as a technical one.

Related terms

  • ITAD The controlled process of retiring IT equipment so that data is destroyed, value is recovered and disposal is documented.
  • Erasure certificate The auditable record proving that all data on a specific device was destroyed, by a named method, at a known date.
  • WEEELABEX The European standard and certification scheme for the collection, sorting, storage, transport, preparation for reuse and treatment of electrical and electronic waste.
  • e-Stewards A certification for electronics recyclers and ITAD operators built around strict environmental, export and labour requirements.
  • Data sanitisation Rendering the data on a storage device unrecoverable, by one of three methods with different levels of assurance.

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