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The recently launched certification standard, SCS-103A, sets thresholds, ranging from 5% to 50%, for recycled content in various categories of products. | DC Studio/Shutterstock

Environmental and sustainability certifier SCS Global Services launched a recycled-content certification for the electrical and electronic equipment industries that verifies the total percentage of recycled materials in products.

Nicole Munoz, vice president of environmental certification services for SCS, said in a press release that her company has been certifying suppliers of recycled inputs for more than three decades and the new certification option “will create an opportunity for brands to communicate how they are implementing their corporate goals for production and supply chains, and set the stage for continuous improvement.” 

“Under this new certification program for the electrical and electronic equipment industry, we’ll be setting baselines for total recycled content by product type and recycled material inputs,” Munoz added.  

The certification, SCS-103A, is an annex published by SCS Standards, the nonprofit affiliate standard-setting body for SCS Global Services. The annex was created with a multi-stakeholder process that involved both industry and NGO representatives, including Amazon, the Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners, De’Longhi, Dell Technologies, The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, HP, Microsoft, Logitech, Phillips, The Recycling Partnership and Stanford Health Care, the press release stated. 

To become certified, products must contain more than one recycled material input and meet minimum thresholds that range from 5% recycled content to 50% depending on product category. 

Kate Daly, managing director of Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy, said in the press release that the new certification standard “will be a significant advancement for transparently communicating recycled content in electronics to customers and driving momentum for circular design as well as innovation in recycling collection and processing for these types of materials.”

A version of this story appeared in Plastics Recycling Update on May 16.

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