Chris Rodinis
This post is about the work of the Basel Action Network.
The meaning of BAN: BAN is named after the Basel Convention, a United Nations treaty designed to control and prevent the dumping of toxic wastes, particularly on developing countries. BAN serves as a watchdog and promoter of the Basel Convention and its decisions. -Wikipedia
Let’s start the story in the middle of things the way stories often do. The autumn of 2008, remember the recession? Yes, businessmen were hustling then, the same as they do now…damn the recession full speed ahead!
60 Minutes, the famous CBS news show was covering a story that had been developing for years and pitched to them for about as long. The story concerned “electronic refuse.” That ugly harbinger of modern times.
The reporter, Scott Pelley, with cameras rolling, had cornered the CEO of Executive Recycling and wanted answers. Pelley wanted the CEO to respond to evidence that ERI was shipping e-waste illegally to China.
Misleading Authorities
In this case, computer monitors (CRT’s) which were supposed to have been recycled domestically were being sold to an e-waste buyer in China.
Mr. Richter, the CEO would have none of it and denied every bit of it. On top of that he told the reporter Pelley that he was a saboteur of small business everywhere.
Let’s cut to the chase. In 2011, Richter and his employee were charged with 16 counts of violating e-waste export laws. This was after 24 months of investigation by the Feds.
In December 2012, the Feds (and 60 minutes and BAN) got their conviction. The pair will be sentenced this month, April 2013. So much for escaping the long arm of the law.
The resulting conviction and vilification of Executive Recycling can be attributed to the resolve of Jim Puckett, a former Greenpeacer, who founded BAN in Seattle in 1997.
Watchdog on the Prowl
Jim Puckett and BAN are the e-waste watchdogs of the world. And this dog, rightfully so, checkmated a major e-waste violator.
Since there is so much e-waste; 52 million computers disposed in 2010 according to the EPA, somebody has to watch out for planet earth and the poor people of the world.
In 2002, Puckett went to Guiyu, China and witnessed an appalling site.
“There he watched out-of-work farmers melt down circuit boards to extract precious metals that their employers would sell on the secondary market.”
How does this sound?….let’s disassemble and melt circuit boards by hand with NO protection!….Let’s inhale the lovely aroma of burning plastic and hazardous fumes! Let’s burn the boards with acid using our naked hands! Let’s allow heavy metals in liquid form to leech into the ground and ground water! Let’s get paid a buck fifty per day to do this!…..sounds like another day in e-waste paradise to me!
Here is what the article said happened in 2002: “Puckett took video of the rivers of ash and clouds of orange smoke that were choking Guiyu and pitched the story to 60 Minutes in 2002 but didn’t hear back.”
This went on for years! Sometimes the Chinese cooperated and got container loads to do a u-turn, however, in the USA not much could be done. This is because, federally speaking, exporting e-waste is allowed.
“The only way to take down offenders is if, as in the case of Executive Recycling, they lie about what they’re doing with what they collect or neglect to report what they’re exporting.”
A Positive Outcome
So in 2008 BAN got a break. 60 Minutes was interested and Executive Recycling was still a prime violator. 60 Minutes aired the story including Puckett, Pelley, and Richter being run out of Guiyu by gangsters. The story eventually was awarded an Emmy.
BAN now has a program call E-Stewards that certifies companies that prove they are responsibly recycling e-waste.
So for all activists out there, this story has a positive outcome.
“We’re at a point where there’s a critical mass of influential people who want to do something about this,” Puckett says. “Finally the majority of the public knows that you shouldn’t just throw your electronics in the trash.”
For more information on e-waste or computer recycling please visit: