Until recently, municipalities, businesses and residents seeking recycling services for used electronic equipment had very few assurances that electronic scrap would be handled correctly by their chosen recycler. Aside from a recycler’s promise, how would consumers of electronics recycling services know claims of environmental and social responsibility were authentic? Large corporations would sometimes take on the expense of auditing a recycler, and possibly even the recycler’s downstream vendors. However, this is a time consuming and expensive process that too few customers had the resources to perform. A certification program specifically designed for the electronics recycling industry was clearly needed. There was rising industry support to develop a standard that would effectively address the operational and materials management concerns associated with electronics recycling activities, and give customers confidence that their electronic equipment was being responsibly recycled.