The RBA facilitates members’ efforts to adapt their business models and products to the circular economy by supporting integrated, international supply chains that promote circular material use, which further human rights and protect the environment.
As technology companies look for new methods and opportunities to reclaim and integrate used materials and components into newly manufactured products, the RBA can support those efforts by applying its extensive knowledge and experience, garnered by developing due diligence and supply chain disclosure programs to address social, labor and environmental challenges in manufacturing supply chains, to the material reclamation sector. In doing so, the RBA will help empower the development of sustainable circular economy solutions.
The RBA is working with its members, suppliers and stakeholders across material value chains to advance circular material use through initiatives that enable greater transparency into reuse and recycling practices and measurement of material movements. The RBA’s goals are to advance supply chain capacity and networks for extended material viability and use and drive responsible business conduct through adoption of circular material value chains.
RBA Circular Materials Landscape Assessment
The RBA recently updated its Circular Materials Landscape Assessment, originally published in 2021, as part of its work to help advance circular material flows across the electronics industry value chain. The report highlights the latest insights into e-waste generation, collection, and recycling; new legal requirements like the EU Battery Regulation; and actionable recommendations for fostering sustainable practices.
View the Executive Summary here. Members can access the full document here on the RBA's ShareFile.
Waste Minimization Toolkit
The REI developed a Waste Minimization Toolkit that includes a Waste Tracking Record Tool and a video learning module that aims to promote and enable responsible waste minimization practices across electronics industry supply chains. The Waste Minimization Toolkit is now available in the RBA’s eLearning Academy, where it is accessible to all RBA members and their suppliers.
The Waste Minimization Toolkit was developed by the RBA in collaboration with numerous members primarily to support compliance with RBA Code of Conduct’s solid waste provisions. The Toolkit will help RBA members and their suppliers to systematically identify, manage, reduce, and responsibly dispose of or recycle solid waste to mitigate environmental impacts and contribute toward a circular economy.
The Waste Minimization Toolkit is a practical capacity-building resource that enables simple and effective facility-level waste stream tracking, reporting, and management. The learning module provides awareness on the benefits of waste minimization best practices and trains supply chain facility personnel on how to use the Waste Tracking Record Tool.
Circular Material and Waste Minimization Working Group
RBA and its members are working to develop, drive, and disseminate standards and practices to minimize waste and advance circularity in a socially and environmentally responsible manner through the Circularity and Waste Minimization Working Group.
This Working Group aims to implement recommendations from the RBA Circular Materials Landscape Assessment (2024) to enable greater circularity in the electronics sector. In addition, further initiatives are being developed to support members with their journey from waste minimization to zero waste.
RBA Zero Waste Program (ZWP)
An industry-led, voluntary commitment program to help drive the adoption of best practices in waste diversion throughout global supply chains.
The Responsible Business Alliance’s Zero Waste Program (ZWP) is an initiative designed to help member companies and their suppliers reduce waste generation, increase resource efficiency, and advance circular economy practices across their global operations and supply chains. The ZWP is aligned to the RBA Code of Conduct’s waste provisions, provides tools for achieving Code conformance, and goes beyond its requirements to support continued achievement toward greater waste diversion across manufacturing supply chains.
Zero waste is a growing global movement driven by laws and regulations, as well as economic, market, sustainability and reputational factors. The RBA Zero Waste Program was developed in consultation with its members to harmonize industry efforts and accelerate the adoption of waste diversion practices within the electronics production sector. It is intended to be inclusive – open to all maturity levels; scalable – cost effective and efficient; and credible – utilizing the RBA’s rigorous assessment frameworks. While full program participation is for RBA members, the RBA’s waste tracking and reporting tool is also open to RBA members’ suppliers.
Participation
The program is voluntary and available to any RBA member. Participants pledge to undertake the following actions at the company level:
| Zero Waste Management System Recommended Actions | |
| Zero Waste/Waste Diversion Policies, Principles |
| Zero Waste Maturity Assessment and Target Setting | |
| Identify in-scope facilities to support with waste diversion |
| Support individual sites with site-level actions, including Zero Waste SAQs, and potential for site-level assurance |
| Oversee site-level reporting of waste generation and diversion data |
| Training and education for staff and suppliers responsible for implementing zero waste initiatives |
| Recognize site and staff excelling in waste diversion efforts |
| Explore opportunities for material substitution, design changes, waste handler changes, innovation and other means to drive waste diversion across the company and its suppliers |
Recognition
With participants’ permissions, the RBA will publicly recognize companies that have committed to ZWP participation. Companies that choose to be publicly recognized must demonstrate annually to the RBA that they have implemented all applicable actions.
To learn more, contact the RBA’s Responsible Environment Initiative (REI) team at REI@responsiblebusiness.org.
Circular Electronics Partnership
The challenges of achieving an industry-wide circular economy and increasing circular material use require action and specialization at many critical points within value chains. Although the RBA can significantly contribute to increasing the reliability and transparency of responsibly recycled electronics, true circular economy solutions will require coordination across many value chain actors and organizations. The RBA partners with other circular economy leaders to ensure efforts contribute to a larger impact within members’ organizations and for the industry as a whole. The RBA is a founding partner of the Circular Electronics Partnership, which facilitates collaboration between industry, partners, and other stakeholders to address collective barriers to circularity.
