Wednesday, May 27, 2009

E Waste Shipped Overseas, Not Recycled

Diligent eyes at Basel Action Network discovered that EarthECycle recently held two e-waste recycling events at which they assured people the waste would be recycled locally, but instead packed it up to ship it overseas to e-waste dumps.

According to BAN:

BAN followed the trucks, to two area warehouses and then some days later observed the waste being reloaded onto 40 foot ocean-going containers. They then tracked 6 of the containers to Hong Kong and one to South Africa. BAN has warned authorities about their imminent arrival and actions are now underway to halt and return the shipments.

EarthECycle flat out lied. And it is, unfortunately, not an uncommon thing. That is why making sure your e-waste goes to a responsible recycler is so important, and using only e-Steward approved recyclers is a must.

Swift action on the part of BAN has helped keep toxic materials out of locations where safe recycling practices are not common. Five of the six Hong Kong bound containers have been returned to EarthECycle, and the shipment to South Africa is due to arrive in the port of Durban today.

Indiana Approves Major Statewide e-Waste Recycling Program
What's Your e-Waste IQ?
How Much eWaste Is Getting Recycled from Major Retailers?

Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
Dell's Stance on Not Exporting e-Waste Is Not Heroic
Enter Design Competition for Upcoming e-Waste Recycling Bin Now!
Indiana Approves Major Statewide e-Waste Recycling Program
Buy-back, Take-back, Recycling: Your Guide to All Things e-Cycling

1 comment:

Jefrey L. Nixon said...

We simply agree with BAN practices and what they are achieving in thier beliefs. There are thtee main points of dissagreement that I think we can work out. One, there simply is value in the greater percentage of the many catagories of ewaste, just as there is value in most auto trade ins. Two, we did absolutely call for assistance to see if there even was something we needed to clean up. With all of the resources available, why can't we come together admit the value just as the rest of the world market has, and use a portion of it to clean up the mess? Lastly, I am of the experience and opinion that it would be much easier to identify and boycott the manufacturers who buy from irresponsible waste sites that it is to catch every container that should not go over seas. So, what is the reasoning behind this?