Statement of Principles

In meeting the UNICOR mission of providing vocational training and employment for inmates confined within the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the UNICOR Recycling Business Group is committed to the following principles:

1. Providing a safe and secure work and training environment for inmates and UNICOR staff, as well as national leadership to the recycling industry regarding worker health and safety.

2. Meeting all applicable environmental, health, safety laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels.

3. Wherever possible, going beyond applicable laws and regulations to maximize worker safety and environmental protection.

4. Obtaining third-party certifications as to the soundness of UNICOR’s electronics recycling program from qualified, independent experts in the fields of worker safety and environmental auditing. 

Such certifications shall include those for environmental and worker safety management systems.  Specifically, those certifications will include the ISRI RIO, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 programs and the Responsible Recycling (R2) program, using ANSI-approved certifying bodies.   Current certifications include ISO 9001:2008 for nearly all our facilities.

5. Consistent with the R2 standards, conduct rigorous due diligence of downstream vendors and obtain documentation of legality of import of electronic materials into foreign countries.  Continually improve downstream due diligence and import documentation.

6. Facilitating the reuse and recycling of all electronic equipment and components received.  Disposal is not an option for any electronic materials.  However, combustion with energy recovery may be used to meet customer needs for secure destruction of some forms of media.  When recycling markets are not available, landfill may be used for some non-electronic waste such as wood and packaging.

7. Assuring that our data security practices fully meet our customer needs.