GEEP Michigan » Poor Recycling

UK e-waste illegally dumped in Ghana

Electronics Recycler — Wed, 18 May 2011 01:33:05 +0000

Ecologist: British electronic waste is being exported to poor African nations where it threatens the environment and human health, reveals joint Panorama and EIA investigation

Andrew Wasley for the Ecologist

guardian.co.uk, Monday 16 May 2011 11.37

BSTArticle history

European e-waste arrives illegally in Nigeria – a new investigation by Panorama and the EIA shows e-waste is being exported to Ghana and Nigeria. Photo: Greenpeace/Buus

One of the UK’s leading waste and recycling companies has been linked to the growing underground trade in e-waste after campaigners uncovered evidence that broken television sets deposited at the firm’s facilities were exported to Africa in contravention of regulations designed to stem the flow of electronic waste to developing countries, the Ecologist can reveal.

Merseyside-based Environment Waste Controls (EWC), whose clients are reported to include ASDA, Tesco, Barclays, the NHS and Network Rail, has admitted that electronic equipment from its amenity sites in South London ended up in West Africa after being exported by a third party company and says it has taken steps to prevent this happening in the future.

Campaigners from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) pinpoint the company in a report outlining Britain’s role in the global e-waste trade, due to be published next week. The report details the findings of an 18 month investigation into how UK e-waste, much of it toxic, is ending up abroad where it is frequently processed in primitive conditions, posing a threat to the environment and human health.

A BBC Panorama programme to be broadcast on Monday night also investigates the trade and uncovers further evidence of UK electronics waste making its way to West Africa.

As part of the probe, EIA staff visited civic amenity sites in Merton and Croydon where e-waste collection is run by EWC and were told that some of the electrical waste arriving at the facilities was routinely collected by a separate company who exported it to Nigeria and Ghana.

Investigators were told at the Merton amenity site that at least seven tonnes of TVs were being sold to the third party company each week, at a cost of between £1.50 and £2.00 per set.

Under the Waste Electrical and Electronic (WEEE) Resources Regulations 2006, as long as the e-waste arriving at the sites was tested and found to be properly working its export would be permissible.

However, the EIA hid tracking devices inside television sets which had been disabled beyond repair and left them at the Merton and Croydon sites. Several weeks later, according to the group, GPS signals indicated that one TV had been shipped to Nigeria, ending up near a well known e-waste recycling centre, and one was found to have arrived in Ghana.

As the Ecologist revealed in December 2010, the e-waste trade has attracted the interest of highly organised criminal gangs who see it as a lucrative and relatively risk-free activity. The EIA says its investigations have established how a complex network of brokers and middlemen are increasingly facilitating the movement of e-waste, making detection even harder for legitimate companies and the authorities.

‘E-waste isn’t a new problem and it isn’t going away. It’s time for the government and enforcement agencies to give this issue the resources and attention it warrants,’ EIA’s Fin Walravens said.

• Track My Trash – Panorama – is broadcast Monday May 16th 8.30pm BBC One

Read Full Article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/16/uk-ewaste-dumped-ghana

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Qtel Ships Four Tonnes Of E-waste For Recycling

Electronics Recycler — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:31:38 +0000

March 22, 2011 09:54 AM

Important to know where your old electronics end up.

DOHA, March 22 (Bernama) — Qtel has shipped a container of e-waste to Singapore for safe recycling under its pioneer e-Waste Recycling Programme, reported Qatar News Agency.

Under the programme, consumers can drop off their unwanted electronics goods at Qtel shops and partner outlets across Qatar.

The latest shipment sent to Singapore was 4,423 kilos, which contained 15 boxes of old and unwanted phones, over a hundred keyboards, around 50 printers and 15 photocopiers.

The shipment also contained around 60 outdated answering machines, and a box of broken computer controllers.

Qtel encourages customers to recycle e-waste through regular raffle draws to reward e-waste donors and to keep the idea of recycling fresh in people’s minds. Raffle prizes include iPads, BlackBerry and other Smartphones and Qtel services.

Full Article: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=572630

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Fake Recyclers Profit Off E-Waste

Electronics Recycler — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:45:41 +0000

Analysis by David Teeghman
Fri Jul 9, 2010 08:43 AM ET

Important to know where your obsolete electronics end up.

Recycling your electronic waste is a noble idea, but here’s the dirty little secret: even if you drop off your old electronics for recycling, it may never get recycled.

As OSNews’ Howard Fosdick describes some people fall victim to a scam called “fake recycling,” and just describing it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Fake recyclers are organizations that approach well-meaning community groups like the Boy Scouts or the Make-a-Wish Foundation to help run a local “Recycling Day.” The idea is that people from the community will bring in their old electronics to the legitimate organization’s Recycling Day event. The fake recycler will then haul that e-waste away, and export it to another country with lax environmental regulations.

What’s in it for them? According to the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, “Recyclers can make more money by exporting than they can by actually responsibly recycling. This is particularly true for recyclers who are collecting televisions, because it costs money to properly recycle old televisions. But they can get paid for exporting them.”

This story from the Basel Action Network details how Cartoosa, OK-based company, EarthEcycle allegedly conned the Humane Society and several other groups into running a “Recycle Day” Event, and then exported the goods to Hong Kong and South Africa. Last year, the EPA filed charges (download EarthECycle complaint) against the company for violating at least seven federal hazardous waste management regulation.

The EPA found other companies located in the state of Washington and Texas as well as in New Jersey illegally disposing of electronic waste.

Full Article: http://news.discovery.com/tech/fake-recyclers-profit-off-e-waste.html

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Canada cracks down on illegal exporters (e-waste)

Electronics Recycler — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:17:08 +0000

Two Canadian companies have pleaded guilty to attempting to illegally export e-scrap and discarded batteries, resulting in fines of tens of thousands of dollars.

Jieyang Sigma Metal Plastic Inc., a parent company of J.S. Chen Recycling of Toronto, pleaded guilty late last month to three charges of violating Canadian environmental laws regarding the export of e-scrap. The company paid $30,000 in fines. The penalties against the company, which could not be reached for comment, are the results of an investigation conducted by Environment Canada in concert with Transport Canada that began in the fall of 2007.

The charges stem from an inspection at the Port of Vancouver, where officials examined two containers and found about 1,200 used lead acid batteries and seven CRT monitors inside. One container had been refused entry by China due to a shipping error, and was subsequently sent back. The second was destined to Hong Kong, but never left the port in Vancouver.

N.W. Cole Associate Appraisers Limited also pleaded guilty late last month to a similar charge, and paid a $10,000 penalty. The prosecution came after a nearly two year investigation by Environment Canada into the Halifax-based company, which arose from an inspection that turned up old computer and electronic parts. The charges against N.W. Cole Associate, which could not be reached for comment, related to a lack of a permit for the exportation of e-scrap.

Full Article: http://resource-recycling.com/node/951

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Thriving business of illegal e-waste recycling in Seelampur

Electronics Recycler — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:24:38 +0000

11 Jan 2011 Last updated at 03:20:06 GMT

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NEW DELHI, INDIA (Scrap Monster): Here you find heaps of computers, motherboards, CRT monitors and hard drives and working on them are not engineers or IT experts but poor people who belong to slums who risk their health to work in contaminated surroundings to earn a living.

The place is Seelampur, in East Delhi located in India’s capital city, considered to be India’s largest illegal electronics dismantling, recycling, and selling market.

People here are mostly engaged in extracting gold and copper from circuit boards of a computer, some extract metals independently, some work with big traders, most earn about Rs. 200 per day Tehelka reports.

People in Seelampur, live their life with scrap electronics, they sleep and dine over the electronic circuits, they burn electronic motherboards for heat.

Informal processing of electronic waste causes serious health and pollution problems. Some electronic scrap components, such as CRTs, contain contaminants such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, mercury, and brominated flame retardants.

Even in developed countries recycling and disposal of e-waste may involve significant risk to workers and communities and great care must be taken to avoid unsafe exposure in recycling operations and leaching of material such as heavy metals from landfills and incinerator ashes. Scrap industry and USA EPA officials agree that materials should be managed with caution, and environmental dangers of unused electronics have not been exaggerated.

Full Article: http://www.scrapmonster.com/news/thriving-business-of-illegal-e-waste-recycling-in-seelampur/9/133

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