Following year-long deliberation over a petition by an e-Stewards recycler requesting e-Stewards to relax its standard to give greater acceptance to placing crushed and treated glass into solid waste landfill cells for possible future retrieval and recycling, BAN's Board of Directors voted to accept the majority recommendations of the e-Stewards Leadership Council and deny the petition.
Read MoreThe U.S. District Court for Northern Illinois just dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by a prominent Chicago area electronics recycler against BAN in 2012. Intercon Solutions filed the lawsuit after BAN caught and reported Intercon for exporting electronic scrap to Hong Kong.
Read MoreToday, according to Lex 18 News of Lexington Kentucky, Global Environmental Services (GES) confessed to dumping and burying televisions and other electronics in a large hole dug behind their warehouse. GES had collected the used electronics to recycle, but unfortunately it appears GES chose a cheaper alternative, but at a cost to the environment and more.
Read MoreFollowing an alarm we raised, Matson Inc., the shipping company, agreed to prohibit scrapping its vessels on the beaches of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
While this decision doesn't apply to the Horizon Trader, and old Matson vessel now on its way to India, it's hugely significant. Twenty-three vessels in Matson's fleet will need to be scrapped in the next few years.
Read MoreKansas City, Missouri, is narrowing the digital divide and responsibly managing a growing waste stream, electronic waste, aka, e-waste, by joining the e-Stewards Enterprise Program. In managing their electronic assets, e-Stewards Enterprises pledge to use e-Stewards Certified Recyclers and Refurbishers.
Read MoreRaytheon, one of the biggest names in defense technologies, is now one of the biggest names in responsibly recycling their e-waste. By becoming an e-Stewards Enterprise, Raytheon deepens their commitment to sustainability and the environment.
In 2013, Raytheon committed to a plan to responsibly recycle 100% of the 500 tons of e-waste they produce annually - by 2015.
Read MoreEfforts to downplay global e-waste dumping issues are taken from the playbook used by climate change deniers and tobacco giants - and we're calling foul.
Jim Puckett, BAN's Executive Director, recently wrote an article in Resource Recycling, calling attention to a growing trend to deny that e-waste exportation from developed to developing countries is a problem.
Read MoreThe electronics recycling industry is under great financial stress. It's unfortunate, but a sad day when leaders in the industry, like Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS), reacting to the stress, cut what shareholders and customers value and demand: environmental protection, social responsibility, independent verification and accountability, and data security.
Read MoreBasel Action Network and Ban Toxics, based in the Philippines, have requested the Secretariat of the Basel Convention invoke formal proceedings on Canada’s unwillingness to perform their Basel Convention obligations after Canada allowed the dumping of more than 100 containers of Canadian household waste on the Philippines.
Read MoreIn the early evening of July 11, CRT Recycling Inc. experienced a four-alarm fire in its warehouse. Consumed in the blaze were thousands of stockpiled cathode ray tube (CRT) computer monitors and TVs stored both outside and inside the warehouse. The state fire marshall’s office has determined that the fire was ignited intentionally.
Read MoreRobert Erie, CEO of E-World Recyclers in Vista, CA was criminally indicted in December of 2014 by a grand jury for conspiracy, trafficking in counterfeit goods, falsifying records, and lying to the government. He was subsequently arrested, released on bail, and pled guilty to the charges. The case is still pending a final judgement.
Read MoreThe latest Basel Convention Conference of the Parties just passed e-waste guidelines “that will allow electronics waste traders to simply claim electronics as repairable and export such dangerous waste outside of the Convention,” according to BAN's Jim Puckett, Executive Director
Read MoreFollowing a new discovery in the Port of Manila of yet another 48 containers of rotting household garbage illegally exported from Canada, environmental justice groups BAN Toxics, Seattle based Basel Action Network, and Greenpeace Philippines strongly condemned the Canadian government for "callous disregard of international law."
The newly discovered batch of containers has been sitting for over a year at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) and is just now undergoing abandonment proceedings under the Bureau of Customs. The consignee, Live Green Enterprise, failed to claim the shipment.
Read MoreInternational environmental organizations brought their protest against Canada for their refusal to take back the 50 shipment containers filled with household waste dumped in the Philippines almost two years ago. The groups raised the matter at a high-level meeting of the Basel Convention and marched from the meeting to the Permanent Mission of Canada, in Geneva, Switzerland.
Read MoreHere are more interesting reports on yet another irresponsible recycler - Stone Castle Recycling - and their enablers in Utah.
Read MoreBasel Action Network and our Philippines-based affiliate BAN Toxics strongly condemned the Canadian government today for violating the Basel Convention by refusing to repatriate more than 50 40-foot intermodal containers, each filled with household trash that were illegally exported from Canada almost two years ago.
Despite many requests by the Philippine government to return the waste as is required under international law, Canada is charged by the environmentalists with bullying the Philippines into finally accepting the waste.
Read MoreHere's the latest federal enforcement action against an e-waste trader. The trader pled guilty to being involved in exporting falsely-represented CRTs to China. He appears to have been a broker and not associated with any one recycling firm.
He faces a maximum penalty of $250,000 and 5 years in jail. BAN applauds this federal action to enforce even our inadequate laws to prevent unsustainable and damaging e-waste exports.
Read MoreWe announced today a new Performance Verification initiative to increase rigor and confidence in our e-Stewards® certification program, already considered to be the "gold standard" for responsible recyclers of electronics worldwide.
Performance Verification will involve random, unannounced, on-site facility inspections to verify ongoing day-to-day performance is meeting the e-Stewards Standard. The inspections will be in addition to the normal, prescribed yearly scheduled third-party audits accomplished by accredited certification bodies.
Read MoreThe e-waste recycler, E-Waste Systems, Inc. (EWSI), has abandoned its primary US-based recycling operations, leaving behind significant volumes of hazardous e-waste.
The Geneva, New York facility is no longer accepting materials and various e-waste collections events had been cancelled. Workers have not been paid since October 18, despite never receiving pink slips of termination. Due to failure to pay the rent, the landlord locked the doors on January 28.
Read MoreBasel Action Network has discovered that Diversified Recycling, an electronics recycler operating in Orlando, Florida and Norcross, Georgia, was recently engaged in transporting daily tractor-trailer loads of toxic TVs and computer monitors to a small warehouse operation where cathode ray tubes (CRTs) were smashed by hand and then dumped in a local construction landfill.
BAN also traced a trans-Atlantic container shipment of electronic waste containing non-functional LCD equipment from the same warehouse firm, known as Sarah’s Trading, to Asia. Both the dangerous smashing and the export and dumping of electronic waste are likely to violate numerous local, state, and federal laws.
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