UK e-waste illegally dumped in Ghana
May 17th, 2011 | 
Author: 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
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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A New International Project Aims to Track U.S. Electronic Waste for Recycling
by eklipz on May 3rd, 2011 at 4:24 PM in Science
With rare earth supplies uncertain and gold and silver prices spiking, a new international project wants to mine a potentially huge untapped source of minerals and metals: that dresser drawer where you’re hoarding all your old cell phones.
Electronic waste is not a new problem. It’s estimated that only 10-15 percent of personal electronics–cellphones, computers, televisions, etc.–are properly recycled. Many are shipped abroad for “recycling” (where health and environmental laws are lax), but even among those many of the components, some of which are toxic, become landfill. The rest end up in dumps here in the U.S., or in that aforementioned dresser drawer where your Nokia 1600 still resides, just in case you need it someday (you won’t).
Read More: http://www.frontsidebus.net/2011/05/a-new-international-project-aims-to-track-u-s-electronic-waste-for-recycling/
Green business digs roots in Redford
Written by Julie Brown
End products from the recycling process at GEEP include copper.
Separated computer parts are stored at Global Electric Electronic Processing in Redford. For a fee, the firm welcomes residents to drop off electronics 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. There's a list on the website of what's accepted.
“People are starting to become aware and educated about the importance of recycling,” said Verkeyn, Business Development executive for the new location at 12237 Beech Daly (next to the post office) in Redford.
GEEP, headquartered in Barrie, Ontario, provides electronic waste recycling. The Michigan facility had been in Warren the past several years, but the move was made to Redford to accommodate business customers in an area ranging from Taylor to Ann Arbor.
“We just moved here about two weeks ago,” Ferndale resident Verkeyn said. “We needed a larger location.”
The Redford site, north of Plymouth Road, has some 50,000 square feet. E-waste services are much in need with technology advancing, Verkeyn said: “We’re very happy to be here. A couple of local people stopped by to welcome us.”
Of interest to local people, you can drop off old electronics beginning this week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. There’s a list of accepted items on the website www.geepmichigan.com. For more, call (877) GEEP-4-YU (433-7498). A fee is charged.
Douglas Verkeyn, Business Development executive, is glad to be located in Redford, next to the post office. Global Electric Electronic Processing is based in Barrie, Ontario, and just moved its Michigan facility from Warren to Redford.
Examples of e-waste include desktop computers, laptops, monitors, printers, keyboards, mice, phones, VDRs, PDAs and televisions.
GEEP also has operations in Canada in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver. In the U.S., it’s currently in Texas and North Carolina in addition to Michigan, although Verkeyn noted company plans to expand in the U.S., beginning with California. GEEP began with just a few employees in Barrie in 1984.
GEEP also has a partnership with Fortech in Costa Rica and operates in southern Germany as well.
“We currently have 12 (Redford employees) and we’re hoping to grow,” Verkeyn said. The privately held company will need varied skills, including information technology.
Mike Kay is general manager for the Redford site, which serves the Midwest, including such states as Kentucky and Tennessee as well as closer.
“We’re excited,” Verkeyn said. “We’re happy to be here. Hopefully with people dropping off their mail at the post office, they can also drop off their e-waste.”
GEEP has proprietary software, EBAN, used to sanitize hard drives for business customers. Being delivered to Redford is a roughly 6-foot by 10-foot shredder for hard drives.
For business customers, the data wiping is done to Department of Defense standards, Verkeyn said. Shredding is also effective and a bit less expensive.
“It gives customers an option,” he said.
In the Redford conference room, there are small jars of circuit board pieces, copper, aluminum and mixed plastic. GEEP breaks down materials into those at Barrie and North Carolina facilities and sells them for reuse.
“It makes it easy when you have a passion for recycling,” said Verkeyn, dad to two daughters ages 8 and 5 and a recycler at home. “We want a cleaner, safer environment for the future generations.”
E-waste is a source of environmental toxins, with an average of six to eight pounds of lead in a CRT monitor. Exposure can cause brain damage, blood disorders and kidney damage, so GEEP officials are careful about environmental standards and disposal.
Verkeyn earned a bachelor’s degree with a finance major from Wayne State University and has been with GEEP about five years. “Just with technology, e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in our nation,” he said.
The Redford site has five bays for trucks to deliver e-waste, a scale for weighing and an area for sorting and demanufacturing. Ink and toner cartridges are removed and recycled.
“We try to sort everything by like equipment.” Verkeyn said of the EBAN technology which can process up to 200 machines at a time.
“Security is of the utmost importance to us and our customers,” he said of the fenced-in work area and numerous cameras.
Verkeyn describes the “closed loop” recycling. “We don’t outsource. We do it ourselves. Everything’s being done responsibly. That’s very important to us.”
Article Link: http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011104210629
Electronic waste recycling program falls short of lawmaker’s expectations
By Emily Long 05/10/2010
Contractors responsible for recycling government computers and other electronic equipment aren’t held accountable to certification standards and environmental regulations, according to the leader of a House oversight committee.
In letters last week to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and General Services Administration chief Martha Johnson, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., expressed concern that the two agencies aren’t doing enough to ensure the safe disposal of old computers and other equipment used by the government.
“I am concerned that the [GSA Federal Supply Schedule] does not adequately direct agencies toward companies with the highest e-waste recycling standards,” Towns wrote. “I am also concerned that there may be a lack of direct oversight of e-waste recycling to ensure proper waste handling.”
According to the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, computer hardware has an average lifespan of seven years, but federal equipment typically is recycled after just three years. The government disposes of an estimated 500,000 computers annually. A 2008 Government Accountability Office audit found, despite EPA regulations, the companies responsible for e-waste often export electronics to developing countries, which dispose of them in unsafe conditions.
EPA has developed a responsible recycling, or R2, certification process for the safe disposal of e-waste. But only two of the 60 waste recycling contractors on GSA’s Schedule 899-5 meet the R2 criteria, according to Towns.
Full Article: http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100510_8749.php
Qtel Ships Four Tonnes Of E-waste For Recycling
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
