March 30, 2018
MARIETTA, GA., March 29, 2018 — UL (Underwriters Laboratories) today announced the launch of the Circularity Facts program, which evaluates a company’s efforts to move from a linear economy mindset to a more sustainable, circular approach which eliminates waste and keeps materials in productive use longer. ASUS is the first company to participate in UL’s Circularity Facts program and is demonstrating their efforts through an evaluation of product circularity in terms of recycled content and recyclability, and site circularity in terms of waste diversion, which are combined into an evaluation of company circularity. By implementing a circular economy approach, manufacturers can measure value in economic terms of waste elimination and realize significant hidden value.
UL’s Circularity Facts program employs several sustainability procedures to validate specific circularity attributes of processes and products today, including standards to validate recycled content (such as closed loop recycled content), bio-based content, recyclability, waste minimization and zero waste to landfill. UL’s program bundles these standards to help companies demonstrate their evolving Circular Economy initiatives. Through this program, UL can quantify a company’s efforts related to making material flows more circular and sustainable in three dimensions – product, facility, and enterprise. Results are reported in a UL Circularity Facts Report – a transparency tool that is flexible and modular and can grow with a company as it expands the scope of its own circularity thinking and program.
For the validation of ASUS, UL examined the circular economy material flows of a laptop and desktop computer and the facility where they were refurbished. ASUS supplied waste diversion data for one year of operations, demonstrated the quantity of recycled or refurbished component content in the products, and the recyclability of products was assessed by external labs and recyclers which sent UL Environment a lab report on recyclability rate. The sum of this data is used to calculate the Circularity Facts report published by UL.
“Achieving circularity is a critical goal for companies that want to move from product focused sustainability to a more comprehensive sustainable strategy,” said Alberto Uggetti, vice president and general manager, UL Environment. “In order to help companies progress their efforts, UL Environment launched the first circular economy program that evaluates companies based on their product, facility and company efforts toward circular economy. We congratulate ASUS on being the first participant in UL’s Circularity Facts program.”
“ASUS is committed to sustainable practices and environmental protection, and we carefully consider the use of resources when implementing circularity innovation”, said Sandy Wei, chief sustainability officer, ASUS. “After receiving UL’s Zero Waste validation in 2016, we further extended our sustainability strategies and actions to influence society and our industry partners. It is an honor to participate in the development of international standards, to establish a paradigm for circular economy, and to go through the world's first Circularity Facts program. We will continue to contribute to society with meaningful actions.”
The Circularity Facts report for ASUS is available on SPOT, the largest credible sustainable product platform. Visit SPOT to access more than 50,000 healthier, more sustainable products.
To learn more about SPOT, visit ul.com/spot.
About UL Environment
UL Environment works to advance global sustainability, environmental health and safety by supporting the growth and development of environmentally preferable products, services and organizations. We help companies achieve their sustainability goals—and help purchasers, specifiers, retailers, governments and consumers find products they can trust. UL Environment offers environmental claim validations, multi-attribute product certifications, environmental product declarations, indoor air quality certification, product emissions testing, chemical transparency organizational sustainability certification and consulting. For more information, visit http://www.ul.com/environment and connect with us via LinkedIn.
About UL
UL fosters safe living and working conditions for people everywhere through the application of science to solve safety, security and sustainability challenges. The UL Mark engenders trust enabling the safe adoption of innovative new products and technologies. Everyone at UL shares a passion to make the world a safer place. We test, inspect, audit, certify, validate, verify, advise and train and we support these efforts with software solutions for safety and sustainability. To learn more about us, visit UL.com.
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