The Electronics Reuse and Recycling Alliance (TERRA) has added its first member in Ecuador, bringing an R2v3-certified electronics recycling and IT asset disposition facility in Quito into a network the organization says now spans more than 120 certified locations across 10 countries.
The new member, Vertmonde, provides electronics recycling and ITAD services in Ecuador and describes itself as a specialist in electronic waste recycling and circular electronics, with services for businesses, importers, households and ITAD-related partners.Steven Napoli, TERRA’s president and CEO, said the move reflects the group’s broader effort to build out a larger international network of certified providers. “We want to be a global organization of certified recyclers and ITAD service providers,” Napoli told Resource Recycling. “The more we can grow, the stronger we become.”
Napoli said the organization’s focus is less about targeting one country over another than expanding the reach of certified operators working under recognized standards.
“Our mission is really focused on promoting why certification matters,” he said. “The bigger and stronger our network becomes, the louder our voices.”
In the announcement, TERRA said Vertmonde’s addition strengthens a network built around certified reuse, recycling and ITAD providers. The company also tied the move to the continuing growth of global end-of-life electronics volumes, citing estimates of more than 57 million metric tons generated each year and a projection of 74 million metric tons annually by 2030.
Vertmonde has been operating publicly in Ecuador for years and presents itself as a technical recycler of end-of-life electronics. Its website lists annual recycling totals of 1,101 metric tons in 2020, 1,643 metric tons in 2021, 775 metric tons in 2022, 832 metric tons in 2023 and 948 metric tons in 2024.
Napoli said TERRA may broaden the certification systems it recognizes as it continues expanding beyond its current footprint, which includes over 50 sites in the US, together with facilities in Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Slovakia, the UK, Brazil, India and Japan.
He said the organization has discussed adding Europe’s WEEELABEX framework alongside the standards it already acknowledges.
“If and when we do that, which I’d say is sooner rather than later, that will open the doors up for more of a global footprint than we have now,” he said.
