As Robert Reed examines a mountain of trash piled three storeys high, a thin white plastic bag catches his eye. He fishes it out and holds it up. “That is a problem plastic,” he says gravely. “These get stuck in the machines, and there is no market for them.” He gives it a little wave and lets it float back down on to the heap.
Read MoreAs much as 55 million tons of computers, TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators and more are discarded annually worldwide. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has proposed regulations that would strengthen U.S. government oversight of discarded electronic waste exports due to national security concerns. Photo:Africa Studio / Shutterstock.com.
Read MoreSince 2008, Samsung has been a strong supporter of recycling by providing convenient and responsible takeback options for consumer electronics globally. In a new initiative with our partner – Basel Action Network (BAN), we are adopting BAN’s EarthEye™ service – a global GPS based tracking system for electronic waste.
Related News:
https://news.samsung.com/us/basel-action-network-waste-tracking/
https://www.waste360.com/e-waste/samsung-ban-partner-enhance-e-waste-tracking
Read MoreThe global waste watchdog group Basel Action Network (BAN) released its findings today of a year-long study that involved placing GPS trackers hidden inside of 43 pieces of computing equipment and then, mimicking the expected actions of Canadian consumers, handing them over to official collection depots and processors across Canada. BAN then monitored the devices, tracking some of them offshore to Asia.
E-Scrap News - Latest GPS tracking report charts Canadian exports
The Recycler - Canada condemned for e-waste exports
The Basel Action Network (BAN) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Association for Information Destruction® (NAID®) to require all current and future e-Stewards® Certified Recyclers in all of their facilities to also become NAID AAA Certified for Electronic Media. For their part, NAID will grant e-Stewards "Network Participant" status, which includes discounts on consultation, training, marketing, and initiation fees.
Read MoreThe 11th Meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group of the Basel Convention, the world's only international treaty on waste control, concluded with widespread and growing support for a proposal by Norway to add plastic waste to the list of wastes subject to the trade controls under the convention. The proposal is seen as a key mechanism to stem the tide of marine debris and plastic litter. It would add plastic waste to Annex II, a list of wastes for "special consideration" under the Convention that requires notification by exporting countries and consent by importing countries prior to export.
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Read MoreA handful of firms around the world are working to develop environmentally responsible recycling and disposal strategies. Here’s what they have to teach the rest of us. Photo © iStockphoto.com/baranozdemir
Read MoreBangkok: The Thai government will ban imports of electronic and plastic waste following reports of massive piles of scrap are turning the country it into the "world's garbage bin," local media reports say.
A dump in Mae Sot, north-west Thailand where locals sift through rubbish looking for plastics they can recycle.
Photo:Brendan Esposito
Read MoreBike-sharing is a growing trend across the world, encouraging people in cities to ditch cars and public transport in favour of cycling – a convenient, money-saving and emission-slashing way to get around. But the apparently eco-friendly companies could be producing a lot more waste than users realise – and one charity is now calling for proper reuse and recycling policies to be put in place.
Read MoreIn the wake of multiple scandalous discoveries of piles of used Ofo and Lime rideshare bikes in the US and China, the Basel Action Network (BAN) and its e-waste recycling program,
e-Stewards®, is calling on all bicycle and scooter rideshare companies, and the city governments that license them, to establish responsible end-of-life policies to ensure maximal reuse and safe and responsible recycling for those bikes and scooters that cannot be reused.
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Read MoreThe global waste watchdog group Basel Action Network (BAN) released its findings today of a year-long United Nations funded study that used GPS trackers hidden inside of 35 old computers, printers, and monitors. They found that two of the devices left at the consumer take-back desk at Officeworks were exported to developing countries in Asia in likely contravention of international law.
Thai officials have been scrambling to deal with a waste scandal after discovering thousands of tons of plastic and electronic waste has been imported since China banned foreign waste last year; other states have been warned 'it is coming your way'
Read MoreThe police raid on a junkyard on the outskirts of Bangkok had all the trappings of a drug bust. Swarming onto the open-air property in late May, officers from the Royal Thai Police found undocumented workers from Laos and Myanmar engaged in dangerous work that exposed them to blasts of toxic fumes and dust — a common hazard on the lowest rung of their illegal and booming international trade. The products these workers handled, however, were not heroin or methamphetamines but vast piles of discarded computers, electrical wires and circuit boards. And it’s very likely that much of this electronic waste came from one of the world’s biggest producers: the United States.
Read MoreAuthor(s): The ASEAN Post Team
China has been the world's largest importer of recyclable materials since the 1980s. In 2017, China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced an import ban of 24 types of solid waste (later updated to 32 types) including unsorted wastepaper, textiles and plastics. The secondary raw material harvested from the imported waste is expected to be replaced by domestic resources. The import ban is to be implemented in two tiers, with the first 16 types of waste banned by the end of 2018, and the remaining types banned by 2020. On 29 June, China limited the entry points for imported waste into the country to 18 designated river and sea ports, effective 1 January, 2019.
Read MoreJuly 11, 2018. New York City, NY. Seattle, WA. ERI, the nations leading recycler of electronic waste and the world's largest cybersecurity-focused hardware destruction company, has announced that it has become the recycling industrys first adopter of Basel Action Networks (BANs) innovative new EarthEye tracking system.
Seattle, WA. Hong Kong. July 4, 2018. In a short report released today by the Basel Action Network (BAN), based on research conducted with the HK01 News agency, serious questions are raised as to why a known violator of Hong Kong's Waste Disposal Ordinance's import rules -- e-Tech Management, has been admitted to, and remains as a tenant at, Hong Kong's environmental showcase -- the EcoPark.
Related Links:
【01跨國追蹤】環保園租戶疑違約 輸入美國電子廢料 環保署調查
【01跨國追蹤】億達屢入口有毒電子廢料 政協老闆任環保署公職
Read MoreJune 26, 2018. Seattle, WA. The Basel Action Network (BAN) today warned South and Southeast Asian nations that they will become the next after Thailand to be hit by a tidal wave of electronic and plastic wastes if they don't move to ban the import of such wastes by ratifying an international agreement called the Basel Ban Amendment. The Ban Amendment would amend the existing Basel Convention, now agreed by 194 countries, to make it illegal to export hazardous wastes such as electronic wastes (e-waste) for any reason from developed countries of the OECD and EU blocs to developing countries.
Related News Links
BAN calls on Thailand and all Asian countries to ratify Global e-Waste Dumping Ban
Thailand halts plastic and e-waste imports
Read MoreJune 21, 2018. Seattle, WA. Basel Action Network (BAN), which has become internationally known for placing GPS units inside discarded electronics and tracking them to horrific recycling operations in Asia and Africa, is now offering an enterprise-scale version of their technology to corporations and governments of all kinds.
Read MoreJune 19, 2018. Seattle, WA. Austin, TX. Basel Action Network (BAN) has teamed up with Dell to use GPS trackers to verify where used Dell electronic scrap goes once it is collected from Dell’s U.S. consumer takeback programs. In this pilot project, announced today in Dell's 2018 Corporate Social Responsibility Report, Dell will be sending 40 electronic devices containing hidden trackers into their U.S. consumer disposition stream. Of these, 30 will be arranged by Dell and 10 provided to BAN to deploy independently. All of this is being done to see if things end up where they are supposed to -- in accordance with the law and Dell's strict no-export of e-waste policy.
Read MoreMay 24, 2018. Seattle, WA. For the last two decades, China was the world's primary e-waste dumping ground. Now, however, as China has closed down its polluting and dangerous “backyard” recycling facilities and cracked down on waste imports of all kinds, that distinction appears to have migrated to Thailand and perhaps other Southeast Asia and South Asian nations.
Related News
ABC News: Thailand preparing total ban on import of electronic waste
Khaosod (English): Trashland: Thailand Drawing Tons of Foreign Garbage
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