Ethical Electronics, Recycling "e-Waste"

My Contribution to EPA CRT Cullet Discussion

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:19:00 +0000

This was my comment to the organizers and regulators in the meeting about CRT Cullet Markets (see agenda at bottom):

We were involved in the sale of CRT cullet from an alleged "pile" in the southwest which was widely speculated to be non-moving.

Cullet from the pile was sold (not through us but using our smelter's same trucking company) to a lead smelter in Mexico, which paid 7 cents per pound.

After the 2010 SEMARNAT border controls on the CRT cullet, the Mexico lead smelter said the material was a "headache". They changed in 2012 to charging 7 cents per pound instead of paying 7 cents for the exact same material. That is a change of 14 cents per pound based on nothing but "diligence" which equated (to the mining/primary smelting company) as "risk".

This discussion is inadvertently creating justification for companies which speculate on whole tubes, avoiding the cutting and washing. EPA needs to clearly distinguish between diligence on whole unprocessed material and companies which have turned that material into saleable commodity.

A shredded toaster (steel pieces) should not carry a label of "toaster waste". It's ferrous metal. The CRT glass which has been processed should be treated as leaded silicate, and governed by MSDS and DOT etc. according to its properties, not as a "waste".

When we exaggerate the risks of "waste" (attributing more weight to the risk of human-generated secondary material) compared to the risks of identical or higher-risk "virgin" material, we set up bad regulation. The regulations we have established for "Cathode Ray Tube" glass penalize a smelter if they try it as a feedstock.

The culprit, ironically, may be the word "Stewardship".

lead mining of yore

When we mine gold, copper, tin, iron, tantalum, silver, etc. from mountainsides and Indonesian coral islands, we do massive damage on several scales. Endangered species are exposed by access roads. Children mine coltan to fund warloards. And the number one and number two sources of mercury in the USA are not mercury mining - they are gold and silver mining. The mountainsides release radioactive uranium, leaded dust, mercury, etc. Fourteen of the fifteen largest Superfund Sites in the USA have been hard rock metal mines. But the mountain is not a "Steward".

We still govern mining based on the General Mining Act of 1872. How can recycling compete with standards of yore?

Listening Live to the Consumer Electronics + EPA + ISRI Conference Call on CRT Glass

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:22:00 +0000

It's slowly coming across.

1) Is there a risk?

The concept of "speculative accumulation" was created because, while commodity status can be used to keep waste regulators at bay, there is a risk that the material is bound to become waste. When it's a very expensive to manage and dispose-of material (say radioactive waste, or highly toxic mercury), there needs to be an avenue for regulators to step in if it's a disaster in the making.

However, what if there is no risk? Steel and scrap paper are accumulated, copper is accumulated, gold speculation is rampant. I have a television here in the house I don't watch much... I'm speculating it may be an antique someday and I'd like to keep it.

The TCLP test was misapplied to begin with. CRT glass has vitrified lead, lead that does not leach out. It's like the lead in leaded glass cyrstal. There is no risk to it.

2) By regulating it as if it's a risk, are we scaring away markets?

Absolutely. The silicate and lead are positive revenue materials, and there are dozens of smelters which would accept these commodities if they were offered on the basis of their chemical properties.

The mis-application of the CRT Rule has created a false need for assurance.

3) Have we hobbled CRT cullet with rules that mined material doesn't have to follow?

You got it.

Jack Johnson, the Galveston Giant (Better Together)

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:47:00 +0000

History Channel: I've learned about Jack Johnson, an African American professional boxer who was finally allowed to fight a white champion, Tommy Burns. See also the Ken Burns documentary on PBS, titled "Unforgivable Blackness". He's in the news again (last month), for a congressional request to Barack Obama to grant Jack Johnson a pardon for his phoney conviction.

US Library of Congress

Both History Channel and Wikipedia link concern about Johnson's interracial sexual partnerships, and fear of his dominance of the sport, with the passage of the Mann Act. The Mann "White Slave" Act made it illegal to transport a prostitute geographically across state lines. According to Wikipedia:

The White-Slave Traffic Act, better known as the Mann Act, is a United States law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, 36 Stat. 825; codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2421–2424). It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann, and in its original form prohibited white slavery and the interstate transport of females for "immoral purposes". Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution, "immorality", and human trafficking; however, its ambiguous language of "immorality" allowed selective prosecutions for many years, and was used to criminalize forms of consensual sexual behavior.^[1] It was later amended by Congress in 1978, and again in 1986 to apply only to transport for the purpose of prostitution or illegal sexual acts.^[1]

According to the History Channel documentary, the passage of the Mann Act in 1910 coincided with Jack Johnson's peak years, and specifically with Jackson's defeat of great-white-hope champion James Jeffries. Race riots resulted. Blacks celebrated, whites tried to stop the celebrations, people got killed. It was the top news story the year the Mann Act was passed.

How to solve a problem of competition? With racial discomfort and fear-based overreaction.

In addition to his punishing victories, however, Johnson was known for his extravagant lifestyle, and was excoriated by his white critics for his romantic relationships with white women. In 1913, Johnson was convicted (in what was widely considered a sham trial) of violating a federal law, the Mann Act of 1910, which outlawed the transportation of women across state lines for "prostitution, debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose." He was found to have traveled with his second wife, a former prostitute, across state lines before they were married.

That's right. The 2010 Mann Act law against transporting prostitutes across a state geographical border was used to arrest Jack Johnson for driving his wife, a white woman, and ex-prostitute. The courts found him guilty because he had driven her across a state border before they were married, in 1908.. Two YEARS BEFORE THE MANN ACT WAS PASSED!

What does that remind us of? How about the Basel Ban Amendment, which still hasn't been passed, which is described as some kind of a limit for transboundary export-for-repair, in today's trade journals?

Geography, protectionism, racial segregation... greed and fear... cognitive dissonance. What's the root story? Out of fear of competition, blacks were banned from boxing whites in the USA. When Jack Johnson found a venue (Sydney, Australia) to meet and defeat the white boxing champion, and used his winnings to celebrate with white women prostitutes, whites tried to find a white hope to shred Jackson in the ring, But the undefeated champion Jeffries, allowed to box Jackson in Las Vegas, would lose in 1910.

Should we stop White Slavery? Of course. But was it really a problem in the first place? Or was it a way to rationalize interfering in relationships which bothered us for the wrong reasons? People like Jacksons wife are described as victims, transportation is observed. It doesn't add up to a crime.

More Insider Dope on Electronics Export Transactions: Giovana Vitola

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Sun, 12 May 2013 11:41:00 +0000

Leyla Acaroglu tweeted us about a documentary, aired in Australia, as proof that electronics exports are bad. The reporter is a Brazilian woman, who is now in Singapore. I have an address for her to visit.

Giovana Vitola's documentary "E-Waste Hell" (shown on Australia's DateLine) follows the Basel Action Network recipe.

1. Fly to a big city in an exotic location.

2. Find bored kids burning TV devices (and refrigerators) at a city dump. Take film.

3. Interview an African (Mike Anane) who reads and believes BAN's fake 80-90% export statistics.

4. Go to the sea container yard and take pictures of televisions being unloaded (from Australia)

5. Interview the importer with a hidden camera.

Before you assume this is "same old same old", watch the documentary all the way through. I noticed a few things worth talking about.

First, the standard freeze frame screen shots show, once again, that the devices filmed in the landfill shot look nothing like the flat CRT (2003ish TV year, which would have been made a the Samsung Corning flat CRT furnace in Klang, Malaysia, which made the compact CRTs until 2011). She films one with broken plastic, but it's clearly shipping damage, and it's cosmetic, it doesn't mean it won't work.

No, I don't think so. Talk to StEP much?

Second, the undercover film shows what Interpol recognized in its 2009 "organized crime" report. The sea container is being received by the family business... the importer says his brother lives in Australia, and bought the televisions. Another "Hurricane Benson" being associated with the dump, kilometers away.

Interpol: Brothers + buying = organization = mafia

Crayons on Maps: Your list of Acceptable Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:55:00 +0000

The theme of social choice, being able to choose a job, is key to mobility. But mobility is also key to being able to select a job.

In the blogs here about slums, choices of jobs, and exports of materials, we are really talking about free trade. If you ask people their opinions on free trade and sustainability, you can predict what their estimate is of bad trade.

The Bayesian analysis used by Reed Miller's group at MIT did some interesting things, using surveys of experts, seeding "known" information, and then weighting opinions of statistics according to their ability to answer known things correctly. The expert who knows the most about your car is most likely to tell you correctly what is wrong with your car.

What is seriously lacking are surveys of Africans, Chinese, Latinos, living across the colored crayon lines that we have drawn on our maps.

Firehose 8: Leyla Acaroglu and "Environmental Folklore"

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:39:00 +0000

"There's no denying..." Below are tweets sent last night from Australia, where the New York Times opinion author wrote yesterday's column about how cell phones and electronics are exported for primitive burning. I tried to reason (and am still trying)...

Leyla Acaroglu ‏@EcoInnovators2h@AdamMinter There is no denying that the US exports and in cases dumps waste on other countries. Just one example http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/12/01/e-waste-investigation-nabs-green-recycler-eri …DetailsLeyla Acaroglu ‏@EcoInnovators2h@AdamMinter Even what is 'donated' eventually becomes a legacy that has to be dealt with. Read what the UN says http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=612&ArticleID=6471&t=long …

Here's the fascinating part... While she appeared to deflect the studies showing that the E-Waste Myths had exaggerated the dumping by tenfold, and even sent links to the UN studies back to me (and Adam M), and sent links from the "dark year" of 2010 which is when the studies were commissioned... her TED talk is actually - fantastically - titled "Question what you think". It's all about using science and lifecycle to define sustainability, and to beware "environmental myths".

Leyla Acaroglu's TED Talk is called "Environmental Folklore". It's about using Lifecycle analysis to determine the real environmental costs of our decisions. She talks about the scatalogical focus of "end of life", which is the same theme/mantra of this blog. She should be open to the idea that the carbon, energy, and environmental cost of a display device are mostly embodied from before it's even sold or initially used, and therefore (like UNEP) agree that reusing it makes more sense than shredding it. But she says "even what is donated eventually becomes a legacy..."

In the TED talk on youtube, I agree with her thinking about plastic vs. paper. What we need to do is get her to apply the same "looking at the entire system" to assess CRT reuse vs. CRT shredding, the "green myths".

"Before you listen to this little guy in your head..., you should stop and question what you think you know".

She and I completely agree on the Lifecycle. The problem is, that when she writes about "e-waste" and cell phones, she's letting the Little Green Gal do all her talking. Greenpeace and BAN are telling little green lies, and it's not turning out well for Technicians of Color.

Myths, Folklore, Hoaxes and little green lies

FIREHOSE: New York Times Opinion Page (Leyla Acaroglu)

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Sun, 05 May 2013 23:40:00 +0000

From today's NYT... An Opinion piece in support of the type of "export police" I've been writing about this month, in the Firehose Series.

"In far-flung, mostly impoverished places like Agbogbloshie, Ghana; Delhi, India; and Guiyu, China, children pile e-waste into giant mountains and burn it so they can extract the metals — copper wires, gold and silver threads — inside, which they sell to recycling merchants for only a few dollars. In India, young boys smash computer batteries with mallets to recover cadmium, toxic flecks of which cover their hands and feet as they work. Women spend their days bent over baths of hot lead, “cooking” circuit boards so they can remove slivers of gold inside. Greenpeace, the Basel Action Network and others have posted YouTube videos of young children inhaling the smoke that rises from burned phone casings as they identify and separate different kinds of plastics for recyclers. It is hard to imagine that good health is a by-product of their unregulated industry."

Smashing batteries to recover cadmium? Descriptions of the same Youtube videos which have been discredited? There is no new information in the column at all. A lot of imagery of harsh conditions, poverty, victimization. Who wrote the article?

Leyla Acaroglu is a sustainability strategist based in Melbourne, Australia.

Here are pictures of the people who buy and recycle cell phones. Some of these pictures will look familiar. Most will not. I got these from a rare blog kept by David Kousemaker (dkousemaker), TechTravels Blog, a mostly photo blog (much less wordy) about used technology. But unlike BAN and Greenpeace's photography, it's not political, and he isn't soliciting your "charitable donation".

http://techtravels.wordpress.com/shenzhen-phone-recycling-1/
http://techtravels.wordpress.com/shenzhen-phone-recycling-2/
http://techtravels.wordpress.com/shenzhen-phone-recycling-3/
http://techtravels.wordpress.com/shenzhen-phone-recycling-4/

I've put a handful of these photos in small scale below (fair use, and Kouserman actually allows non commercial commons use, see bottom).

Leyla, if you want to talk about sustainability in development, give me a ring. I chose repair and refurbishing because the "Network of Tinkerers" is a model for development which offers an alternative from the curse of natural resources (and foreign aid, which appears to have the same effect as oil and diamonds, creating a Darwinistic government class that provides the greatest rewards to the sharpest elbows). Tinkerers, networkers, technicians, fixers, repairers, geeks... those are the people who turn discarded tech into affordable access. We called it "Yankee Ingenuity" in the Northeast. There is no better way for a smart kid without connections to make $300 per day than by fixing and salvaging.

Read the other blogs here, Leyla, and you'll find that BAN and Greenpeace are filming the city dumps at major cities, and the used imports are mostly not the same stuff people throw away here after using it for 20 years. Five reports show 9%, 10%, 13%, 15% of the imports are waste, which is actually less than new "affordable" product imported into places like Africa or sold in shops in China. The free market is not as bad as you've described. And no one can afford to pay for scrap to be shipped across the ocean just to dump it, something of value must be there for the ride (and it isn't batteries smashed for cadmium... who told you that?).

In May, 2011, I channeled a book from 1960. No, not Vance Packard's "The Waste Makers", about planned obsolescence. No, not Rachael Louise Carlson's "Silent Spring", about the invisible toxics from our heavy industry, and their heavy poisonous toll.

In "E-Waste Bloggers Play Atticus Finch", I referenced Harper Lee's dramatic novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird". Ms. Lee, who has recently been in the news over copyright and author control, told the simple story of her native Monroeville, Alabama.

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."- Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

FIREHOSE Statistics on Exports of Used Electronics

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Fri, 03 May 2013 00:18:00 +0000

"The majority of refurbished products stem from imports via the ports of Lagos. The interim
results from project component 2, the Nigerian e-Waste Country Assessment, show that 70%
of all the imported used equipment is functional and is sold to consumers after testing. 70%
of the non-functional share can be repaired within the major markets and is also sold to
consumers. 9% of the total imports of used equipment is non-repairable and is directly
passed on to collectors and recyclers."

- Final report of the UNEP SBC, E-waste Africa Project, Lagos & Freiburg, June 2011

Right wing think tank? Protectionist industry study?

"9% of the total imports of used equipment is non-repairable and is directly passed on to collectors and recyclers."

No. This is from the two year study of the Basel Convention Secretariat, one of the several listed at the UNEP and Basel Convention site. " Informal e-waste management in Lagos, Nigeria – socio-economic impacts and feasibility of inter-national recycling co-operations" And it is not a typo. Thats NINE PERCENT, not 90%!

Ok. It's not perfect. 9% of the used electronics purchased by Africans could not be reused or repaired, and that's a lot of waste. But is it bad enough to ban exports?

Take a guess what new item store returns are for product sold in California? 11.9%

That's right, dear readers. According to the National Retail Foundation, store returns of merchandise sold in California is nearly 12%. Now, no doubt some of those returns are "buyers remorse", and the NRF estimates that a certain percent is return fraud. But that's retail, it doesn't include damage in shipping... or static damage discovered before the goods are sold, or are pulled from the shelf because of high returns.

Here are the statistics of the percentage of electronics which are damaged by ELECTROSTATIC charges upon import to the USA. From ESD Association web site:

“Despite a great deal of effort during the past decade, ESD still affects production yields, manufacturing costs, product quality, product reliability, and profitability. Industry experts have estimated average product losses due to static to range from 8-33%. Others estimate the actual cost of ESD damage to the electronics industry as running into the billions of dollars annually. The cost of damaged devices themselves ranges from only a few cents for a simple diode to several hundred dollars for complex hybrids. When associated costs of repair and rework, shipping, labor, and overhead are included, clearly the opportunities exist for significant improvements.”

So damage to new electronics is estimated at 8-33%, and store returns in California are 11.9%. And Ghana and Nigeria studies found loss or damage of used product to be between 9% and 15%.

AND HERE'S the killer. At the Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit at Middlebury College, I learned that brand new product - the ones Africans can afford, cheap stuff from China - fails at a higher rate than used goods! The Ghana and Nigeria study never tested the new product, so there's actually not even a control group... but the Africans who came to the Summit said there's much less risk to buying used American name-brand electronics.

Based on the firehose of disinformation hurled at Africa technicians, the statistics above aren't ever considered. Basel Action Network fabricated, hallucinated, or otherwise made up the only statistic Interpol needed to arrest and seize the goods of 40 African electronics businesses in the past 6 months, 240 tons of affordable computers and televisions purchased by Africans for resale in their cities...

And now, without further adieu, here is today's press release from our friends in Seattle Washington. Click below... hear how Puckett describes the "reuse excuse", those nasty, polluting, toxic African techs. From the source of the "90% of Africa Imports are Primitive", here's a report from the Basel Convention.... which leading up to the Fair Trade Recycling Summit, is leaning our way.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FIREHOSE BLOG: Africans, Malaysians, Middle Eastern Technicians - Run for cover

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Thu, 02 May 2013 01:08:00 +0000

The firehose of disinformation about our Fixer brethren continues.

There is a war against the "Good Enough Market". CAER, Greenpeace, and Basel Action Network have refused to withdraw the falsified and disproven statistic that 80% of used electronics exports are primitively burned in a horrible toxic process. Interpol in Europe, acting on the fake, discredited, false, made-up statistic, has arrested 40 African export businesses. USA EPA has publicly accused an Egyptian man of primitive ape-like processes for 100,000 computer monitors for which he paid $28 each ($21 per monitor plus approximately $7 in shipping).

You think the USA had a problem in the deep south in the 1960s? Look at how we are treating the Deep South of the world. Firehose of false, fake, brutally dishonest allegations against technicians in developing world. And it's "environmentalists" holding the firehose.

Emerging markets (3 billion people with per capita income ~$3k/year) online more hours than West

Greenpeace Europe video accuses these men of burning these TVs. Interpol arrested their boss.

Malaysia has now taken away the permit from this factory, written about by Shanghai reporter Adam Minter.

I got out of the Egypt business just before the crackdown by shipping monitors to the Malaysia company, which refurbished them to new-in-box warranty for my old Egyptian partner. Now, the Environmental Malpractice is making them the fourth victim.

FIREHOSE: Environmental "E-Waste" Sustainability: Peter Sellers "Being There"

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:39:00 +0000

Following the blog policy to keep video to a minimum (it consumes a lot of bandwidth for readers in "good enough" internet bandwidth markets, even if their CRTs actually display better video quality than LCDs...) I will not embed the trailer to Peter Sellers' 1979 Film, but encourage you to follow the link.

BEING THERE. (link to trailer on youtube, plot summary from wikipedia below fold)

Ewaste advocates think they walk on water

The analogy/allusion?

We meet someone who gets all his information from TV... cannot read or write. Someone else, involved in something really important (economic policy) bestows their faith to the someone who just repeats things he saw on TV. They become "insiders", powerful people with lots of influence.

Someone (Jim Puckett) took a picture of mixed electronics in the USA, then took a picture of sorted/single unit electronics unloaded from a sea container in Africa, then took a picture of (decades old) junk TVs generated in Africa at dumps. He announced that the Africans are buying the unsorted junk from the USA and burning it in fires in Africa.

Some of us who really were "being there" in Africa decades ago know that the technicians who import the goods are the best darn hopes their nations have, the Ben Franklins of their emerging democracies, used computer displays filling the role of the used printing equipment Franklin brought to Philadelphia.

BAN and Greenpeace's story... It's mathematically and economically impossible, its disproven by looking closely at the second photo (sorted, stretch-wrapped black hotel-upgrade quality TVs). There's no interview with the Africa buyer. Then, when the gobs and loads and piles of shredded TV glass appear here in the USA, our friend Jim shows up with a camera, saying "Tsk, Tsk" to the New York Times.

CBS 60 Minutes, NPR Fresh Air, PBS Frontline... the list of media consuming the images and reporting the "conclusion" makes Sellers movie seem more than possible/plausible in the Sustainability community. How will college PIRG "E-Stewards" activists look international students in the eye when the simple hoax becomes apparent? It's a hatchet job on the reuse market, planned obsolescence and big shred, playing us for fools.

FIREHOSE: Werner: Where there is no Doctor

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:17:00 +0000

Flashback to Peace Corps. Each of us was given a copy of David Werner's book, "Where there is no doctor". I'm looking for copies to give my teenagers for when they leave the home. It was basic good sense, and I learned things I still rely on today. From today's wikipedia:

Where There Is No Doctor: A village health care handbook is the most widely used health education book in tropical and sub-tropical developing countries. Based on David Werner's experiences at his Project Piaxtla in western Mexico, it was originally written in 1970 in Spanish as Donde No Hay Doctor. It has since been revised multiple times, has sold over one million copies and been translated into over 100 languages. The book is available for purchase, in either book form or on CD, at Hesperian's bookstore. Because the non-profit publisher's mission is making health information readily accessible to everyone, portions can also be download free-of-charge in pdf format.

FIREHOSE BLOG: Madness vs. Persistent Irrational Belief

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:31:00 +0000

How many "E-waste" Experts and E-Waste Studies does it take to show that material like THIS

Is not paid for, shipped and delivered to, places like THESE?

We know who the buyers are. We know they have no interest in buying the material that BAN.org shows in photos. We know the factories are operating in cities overseas which have had TVs and computers for years, and who generate more e-waste on their own than we do per year in the USA (they have less storage space in attics and closets).

Can someone please explain to me the persistent irrational belief by Watchdogs that the municipal material shown in the first photo is being exported in any significant quantity to Africa or Asia?

Fair Trade Recycling: Deleted By Trolls on Slashdot.org? Cal Milmo Redux?

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:19:00 +0000

Somda: I can do that.

I've been completely unsuccessful in keeping this story alive on Slashdot. We need to go Reddit or StumbledUpon. Deleted from Slashdot Submissions:

retroworks writes "They came to our African city dumps and photographed children burning scrap — scrap that was thrown away after decades of use. Then they said our African businessmen and women had imported the junk recently, and dumped 80-90% of it. Our entrepreneurs have been arrested, and our internet cafes and hospitals denied IT equipment, and our citizens told to buy brand new devices which they cannot afford, or which — when made cheaply — fail at a higher rate than the quality used equipment. And the Environmentalist who use our children's images keep the money, and don't share a dime with Africa."

This damning quote from Jean Frederic Fahiri Somda of Burkina Faso , who opened the Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit, was not the first to defend Africans accused of creating "e-waste" dumps in European and USA media — an allegation that has recently resulted in the arrest of 40 African export businesses in Europe, and allegations by EPA that Egyptian businesses who purchased CRT monitors in the USA for $21 each intended to crudely recycle them.

At the FTR Summit, Field Studies and Surveys from US International Trade Commission, Basel Convention Secretariat, IDC, MIT, Memorial University, ASU, etc. presented at the Summit consistently predicted that 85-90% of used electronics purchased by Africans will be reused for years before reaching the dump. African representatives claimed that USA and European reused equipment is less prone to returns than affordable (Chinese) new equipment."
This damning quote from Jean Frederic Fahiri Somda of Burkina Faso , who opened the Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit, was not the first to defend Africans accused of creating "e-waste" dumps in European and USA media — an allegation that has recently resulted in the arrest of 40 African export businesses in Europe, and allegations by EPA that Egyptian businesses who purchased CRT monitors in the USA for $21 each intended to crudely recycle them.
At the FTR Summit, Field Studies and Surveys from US International Trade Commission, Basel Convention Secretariat, IDC, MIT, Memorial University, ASU, etc. presented at the Summit consistently predicted that 85-90% of used electronics purchased by Africans will be reused for years before reaching the dump. African representatives claimed that USA and European reused equipment is less prone to returns than affordable (Chinese) new equipment."

None of the links goes anywhere unvetted or controversial, or to a self-blog. The key link is to live recordings of professional researchers. They all agree with Mr. Somda. The arrests of African used goods importers is a perverse outcome, a type of environmental malpractice, a defamation, an unintended consequence, or even an example of racial profiling gone absolutely wrong.

Fair Trade Recycling Summit - Theme Song Lyrics

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:37:00 +0000

USA, Mexico, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Netherlands compare notes on discarded printers

Let the trade be. Let Africans buy what they want to buy. Give it to them for even less if they will set up hand dismantling recycling centers. Give "takeback" to the techs and refurbishers, not the companies making expensive new products that Africa cannot afford.

Fair Trade Recycling Summit Now Online

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 12:05:00 +0000

The streaming by Middlebury is captured on USTREAM online. We've had ~~156~~ 235 online participants (so far).

I'm listening over again to key parts of the Summit. In Jon Isham's class, Katharina Kummer Peiry (outgoing chief at the Basel Convention Secretariat) describes how the "group of 77" developing nations first negotiating as "developing nations" has changed. When extremely advanced economies like Brazil and Singapore are put side by side with Lesotho, Chad and Sudan, the functionality of the Basel Convention begins to tear.

Frederic Fahiri Somda of Burkina Faso opened the discussion (in French) by speaking about the huge difference between drums of toxic waste solvents dumped on African beaches (a Basel enforcement he strongly supports) in contrast with the cell phones and internet ready computers, which he says are more important and vital to Africa today than paved roads, electricity and running water. He said it was obvious to Africans that buying brand new computers and cell phones was a false solution. People earning under $3000 per year are getting online at ten times the rate of people in rich countries. Arresting the Africans who risk their money and reputations to bring those computers to their home countries is a perverse misuse of the convention.

Kyle Wiens spoke from California on the complex negotiations over repair manuals, and the conflict of interest between certain shredding companies and certain original manufacturers and the secondary market. Reed Miller and Andrea Boron presented data from their research, which emphasized the importance of the secondary market, not just in tonnage, but in value and jobs created. Selling a computer monitor for $21 to Egypt is nothing like dumping the monitor on a beach, and even comparing the two is ignorant.

Adam Minter of ShanghaiScrap.com described the evolution of circuit recycling in places like Guiyu and India. Chips are actually reused, and the leftover chips are now sold to very high tech smelters in Belgium and Japan. Wire burning is rather obsoleted by new equipment that reuses the wire casings.

Oscar Adrian Orta of Mexico, Muhammed Wahab Odoi of Ghana, and Eric Prempeh of Good Point Recycling (orginally a Ghana Tech), put a human face on the buyers, users, repairers and generators of e-scrap in poorer cities around the globe. The e-waste filmed outside those cities, they said, had been generated by users inside the cities, used and repaired for years, and that the conflation of imports with dumps is no more correct in Africa than it would be to assume Japan is sending junk cars to the USA, because we see the used cars at Toyota, Nissan, and Honda dealerships.

I'll blog more about the Summit when I have time to listen to more.

The highlight to me was meeting Interpol's Therese Shryane, who participated via Skype from Europe. She described the Christmas Arrests of traders in used computers sourced in Europe and destined for Africa. Adelaide Rivereau, our own intern from Europe (France) described here "training" in E-Waste in her masters program as consisting of ten year old Basel Action Network video. Adelaide made a crystal clear point (in an adorable French accent), that if the enforcement community is trained via propaganda films, that the unintended consequences are to be expected as more of a norm than an outlier. Lynn Rubinstein of NERC.org showed intense understanding of Adelaide's point... as the educator of American regulators, NERC has distinguished itself by participating in R2 (Responsible Recycling), one of the lead organizations in defending "geeks of color" overseas.

The end of the Summit brought the only terse words - between Martijn van Engelan of Holland, and an attendee from Panasonic. The OEM had said that they couldn't risk their stock and brands being attacked by environmentalists, even if the attacks were unfounded. Martijn challenged Panasonic on moral grounds to stand up to the "liars". This slide show (link), includes film of one former contract manufacturing assembly factory for Panasonic products in Southeast Asia. When the company no longer got orders from Panasonic to make new CRTs, they began buying used ones from the USA, and refurbishing them with brand new boards for sale in India, Mideast, and Africa.

We greatly appreciated David's participation in the Summit, but listening to the final 13 minutes, I think Martijn has a point. If Panasonic will not even defend its own ISO14001 vetted subcontractors, then they cannot defend their own warranty returns. We have seen how the "watchdogs" turned on a dime in the NY Times coverage of CRT glass piles. The CRT glass piles are in the USA, not overseas (where the Watchdogs falsely said 80% of them went). If the Watchdog can so quickly turn and bite the hand of the shredders, they will turn on Panasonic, Sony and Dell's upstream assembly partners and contract manufacturers. Failing to defend your assemblers is a mistake Apple almost made with Foxconn.

Americans may think that six billion people in the world wear grass skirts and suffer starvation because they cannot distinguish between a photo taken at a city dump and a description of engineering and original design manufacturing of display devices and smartphones. But the failure of American Geography classes does not extend to the rest of the world, which is today the largest market for companies like Panasonic. If they think their sales are going to be hurt in America by failing to stand up for their partners, perhaps they should consider the benefits of multicultural friendships.

That's has been my takeaway from trading overseas. At yesterday's Fair Trade Recycling Summit, we tried to make it a "giveaway".

Fair Trade Recycling Summit in Vermont Earth Week 2013

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 03:20:00 +0000

Middlebury College Environmental Studies is hosting a Summit of researchers of "e-waste" or WEEE exports on April 16. The Summit will be streamed online at www.fairtraderecycling.org. It is funded in part by a Canadian grant of $479,000 to Memorial University, University CP de Peru, and University of Southern California (LA).

Researchers organized the Summit in order to interview actual importers of used electronics in five countries. They will be joined by experts from MIT, Monterrey Tech Guadelajara, University of Amsterdam, and Universite Paul Cezanne of France. A representative of the Swiss Basel Convention will speak about 2-year studies in Nigeria and Ghana, and the US International Trade Commission will update attendees on its new 2013 calculation, that 88% of used electronics exports are reused.

In fact, Researchers from Peru, Basel Convention, US ITC, and elsewhere have consistently found 85%-90% of the used electronics purchased by Africans, Asians, and South Americans are reused, and that the 10-15% fallout is comparable to new goods. Most experts say that material filmed at dumps is collected from cities in emerging markets which have used up the equipment imported decades earlier. IT importers from Egypt, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Peru, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Angola, and Colombia are attending the Summit, to meet students, and explain that they cannot afford to pay $21 per unit, plus thousands in shipping, to burn material on the ground.

Fair Trade Recycling, an international NGO based in Vermont, organized the Summit. EPA, Interpol, and other enforcement agencies have committed to participate online. The enforcement agencies will be asked who originated the statistic that 75% of the imports are dumped and burned (creating a presumption of guilt among used IT importers). FTR representatives hope to shift the burden of proof, so that exports of used IT are not presented as de facto "e-waste", and to address the need for appropriate recycling techniques and hand disassembly systems. The association of exports with "primitive" or "informal" recycling and dumping (via widespread coverage by CBS 60 Minutes, Frontline, USA Today, Oprah, NPR Fresh Air, etc.) doesn't address the problem if those wastes were not recently imported. (a Seattle NGO has emerged as the probably source of the claim that 75%-90% of used IT imported by Africans are immediately sent to be burned in dumps).

List of Speakers and Biographies, 2013 Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit

Peace Through Trade Between Recycling Tribes

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 06:50:00 +0000

"How can there be peace without people understanding each other; and how can this be if they don't know each other?" - Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lester B. Pearson

How can there be fair trade without people trading with each other, and how can this happen if they don't know each other?

I make many arguments about the wisdom of prohibitions, and the unintended consequences of isolationism in the name of anti-exploitation. Drawing the blinds on Africa won't make the poor children go away.

But I also know that the e-waste being generated by the "other billions of people" in the non-OECD is piling up, just as it is here. Exporting used equipment may not be the direct cause of those piles, but it will not by itself solve those piles. Fair Trade Recycling is intended to attach conditions to the sale of used equipment which seed the collection and proper recycling of that equipment in the nations generating it.

When IT buyers from Africa come over to inspect equipment they may buy, they are exposed to a facility which is properly dismantling the equipment they don't want. They don't see a big heavy shredder that they could never hope to afford. Instead, they see hand disassembly, people doing jobs they can imagine their family or tribe members doing.

(Yes, I used the word tribe. It's cool, trust me.)

Fair trade recycling is about getting to know each other. Even if no price is agreed to and no sale takes place, simply agreeing to meet an African, Chinese, or South American buyer, to shake their hands, and to listen carefully to learn what it is they want to buy, that is getting to know the e-waste trade.

Creating laws and corporate policies which ban the trade preserves ignorance.

I hung out with a couple of very nice people at the ISRI recycling trade show this week. Excellent people. They were talking about people who stack and pack old televisions, like the ones that make up 60% of our collections. I said I'd never met such a person. I think that maybe if they relax their policies against exporting used equipment, they will hear out more of the buyers, and get to know them.

Whether or not they make money, they'll learn how make a little more rare the stereotype that never actually exists. Most of the information that has been provided online and through the press about used electronics trade and recycling has been concocted by people who don't know what they are talking about, and are making it up as the go along. That's the same problem with people who criticize alternative marriages, or want to choose neighborhoods or co-workers based on race or color.

The more we isolate ourselves, the more we don't learn good.

Testimony Wanted: E-Waste Import/Export Trials

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:14:00 +0000

The Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit is collecting 2-3 minute videos, written testimonials, and quotes about the concept of fair trade as an alternative to export bans and prohibition laws.

We had far too many people who wanted to attend and present their ideas, even after opening a third class. There will be online streaming of the FTR Event. That means there will be gaps between classes which is an opportunity for you to present your case, pro or con, to thousands of viewers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

The only warning is that there are plenty of facts on the table. Dozens of import/export businesses are talking about their processes, and how fair reuse can actually fund the manual disassembly of used electronics they generate in their own nations.

Send your 2 paragraphs, or video or link from youtube/vimeo/viddler, to Testimony (at) wr3a.org.

Here's an example (my video response to Good, February 11, 2010...

Video Testimony on fair trade (share your ideas as well!) below (click "more")

(My favorites so far are on the theme of "right to assembly" means "right to affordable internet devices". The same nations which are cracking down on used device imports are the ones cracking down on internet free assembly... )

Earth Week Academia: Reading Fair Trade Recycling Summit

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:47:00 +0000

Nalanda University India ruins: A-Waste?

The Fair Trade Recycling Association has been asked by professors at Memorial University and Middlebury College to suggest a "reading list" for students preparing to attend the Fair Trade Recycling Summit. The Summit will be streamed online from Middlebury College on April 16, 2013.

Colleges and universities outside of Middlebury are watching, from classrooms in the faraway reaches of Africa, South America, and California. I thought I'd post the readings which have been discussed and may be assigned to the classes at Middlebury College. It's a great bibliography for a serious term paper in environmental studies or international economics or political science.

Big Works are from 1960. Environmental Studies they should be aware of them and we can recommend a chapter of each.

"Silent Spring" by Rachael Carlson, created awareness/knowledge of an "invisible toxic enemy".

"The Waste Makers" by Vance Packard, is about the corporate bias against reuse and repair, and the extent to which "planned obsolescence" will grow. Republished featuring an introduction by Bill McKibben of Middlebury College.

The question is whether the "Waste Makers" are using cognitive risk marketing (from Silent Spring) to make environmentalists exaggerate fear of "e-waste" recycling.

Specific, Shorter, Background Reading on "E-waste":

Middlebury College Hosts Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit April 16

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 11:48:00 +0000

Reuse, Repair, and Recycling Professionals from Five Continents to meet at Middlebury College Summit. Hosted by Middlebury College, visitors sponsored by Good Point Recycling and the World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association.

Academic Track Agenda:
(Seating limited)

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
Two presentations by internationally recognized figures in the field. A third forum will be held for Middlebury College students and community members interested in debate over export of used goods and Fair Trade Recycling.

10:00-11:00 Registration: coffee, snacks in Chellis House

11:00-12:15 "Environmental Policy in the Developing World" Dr. Nadia Horning. R.A.J. Hall (maximum of participants: 70)

12:15 - 1:15 Lunch Discussion

1:30-2:45 “Externalization of Opportunity or Harm?" Dr. Jon Isham. Orchard room (maximum of participants: 50)

3:00-5:00 pm -- Forum -- “Meet the E-Waste Exporters: Balancing Bans & Free Trade?” Panel Discussion moderated by Josh Lepawsky. Orchard Room

Featured Speakers:

Andrea Boron, US International Trade Commission. Used Electronics Exports (February 2013).
Adam Minter, Author, “Junkyard Planet”. Adam is a reporter for Bloomberg, based in Shanghai, who writes columns for BusinessWeek, Bloomberg, Recycling International, and The Atlantic.
Katharina Kummer Peiry, EcoConsult (Geneva, Switzerland). Former Executive Secretary, Basel Convention Secretariat 2007-12. Former UNEP staff, Nairobi Kenya.
Eric Harris, Assoc. Counsel/Dir. Of Govt. & Intl. Affairs, ISRI, (Washington, DC). Industry representative to UN PACE program.
Josh Lepawsky, Geography, Memorial University (Newfoundland, Canada). Chief researcher, $479,000 Fair Trade Recycling research grant.
Ramzy Kahhat, Professor of Engineering, University Pontifica Catholic de Peru, FTR grant.
Stephen D’Esposito, President , and Juliana Birkhoff, Vice President of Collaborative Practice, RESOLVE (resolv.org)
Jean Frederic Somda, International Attorney and former Prosecutor General of Burkina Faso
Martijn Van Engelen, Aatelco CEO, founder of Fair Trade Electronics in Holland, exporter.
Reed Miller, Researcher, MIT.
Lynn Rubinstein, Exec Director, NERC.org. Board Member, R2 Solutions.

They will be joined by international group of importers, recycling regulators, activists, technicians, and geeks. (Some participating by video).

• Jinex Mindevil, CEO, Ace TV, Lima Peru
• Ruediger Kuehr, United Nations University, Inst for Sustainability, Germany
• Michael Durfor, Executive Director, NRRA, Epsom, New Hampshire
• Colin Davis, VP, WR3A (Fair Trade Recycling), Middlebury, Vermont
• Kyle Wiens, CEO, IFIXIT, producer of documentary “The Fixers”
• Charles Brennick, President, Interconnection, Seattle Washington (WR3A Board)
• Mostaem Billah,Memorial University, Bangladesh
• Jim Lynch, TechSoup Global, California
• Allen Liu and Ow Young Su Fung, CEO and VP, Net Peripheral, Malaysia
• Gordon and John Chiu, CEO and VP, Advanced Global Technology, U.S.A and Peru
• Roberto and Alice Valenzuela, Retroworks de Mexico, Mexico (WR3A Board)
• Mike Rohrbach, Founder, CCLAC.org, Arizona (WR3A Board)
• Timothy Anderson, President, World Computer Exchange, California, U.S.A (WR3A member)
• George Hinkle, CEO, ARCOA Recycling, (WR3A Board)
• Muhammed Wahab Oboi, Importer of electronics, Ghana (WR3A)
• Sarah Commes, PCRR, Refurbishers Group
• Hamdy Moussa, CEO, Medi-Com, Egypt, (WR3A)
• Joshua Goldstein, Professor of Chinese History, USC Los Angeles
• Nancy Jo Craig, CCARC.com, Refurbishers Group, Louisiana
• Oscar Adrian Orta, University of Guadelajara, Mexico (WR3A)
• Adelaide Rivereau, WR3A, Masters in Waste Mgt, Univ Paul Cezanne, France
• Eric Prempeh, Technician, Good Point Recycling, Ghana
• Robin Ingenthron, WR3A, American Retroworks Inc., Good Point Recycling, Vermont
• Brenda Wijnen, University of Amsterdam (WR3A)
• Eva Carreira, WR3A staff, Vermont (WR3A)
• Miguel Macuiza-Artur, Worla Aid, Angola
• Qasim Munir, Good Luck Traders, Lahore, Pakistan

The event will be STREAMED LIVE. If you are studying, researching, preaching, questioning, or otherwise fascinated by international recycling and scrap trade, you will want to watch this event online (seating is sold out) or participate via live streaming.

Local recycler American Retroworks Inc. and Good Point Recycling will hold an open house the same day in Middlebury, where live streaming of the event can be followed, and you can meet face to face with scrap and reuse buyers from several nations.

Two Weeks To Fair Trade Recycling "E-Waste" Summit

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:55:00 +0000

Also bookmark the web page www.fairtraderecycling.org

Press Release Here.

University Sustainability offices invite E-Waste Exporters (African, Latino, Asian) to face with activist, regulators tinyurl.com/fairtewaste
— Robin Ingenthron (@WR3A) April 2, 2013

Keynote speakers and panelists include:

·         Andrea Boron, US International Trade Commission. Used Electronics Exports (February 2013).
·         Adam Minter, Author, “Junkyard Planet”. Adam is a reporter for Bloomberg, based in Shanghai, who writes columns for BusinessWeek, Bloomberg, Recycling International, and The Atlantic.
·         Katharina Kummer Peiry, EcoConsult (Geneva, Switzerland). Former Executive Secretary, Basel Convention Secretariat 2007-12. Former UNEP staff, Nairobi Kenya.
·         Eric Harris, Assoc. Counsel/Dir. Of Govt. & Intl. Affairs, ISRI, (Washington, DC). Industry representative to UN PACE program.
·         Josh Lepawsky, Geography, Memorial University (Newfoundland, Canada). Chief researcher, $479,000 Fair Trade Recycling research grant.
·         Ramzy Kahhat, Professor of Engineering, University Pontifica Catholic de Peru, FTR grant.
·         Stephen D’Esposito, President , and Juliana Birkhoff, Vice President of Collaborative Practice, RESOLVE (resolv.org)
·         Jean Frederic Somda, International Attorney and former Prosecutor General of Burkina Faso
·         Martijn Van Engelen, Aatelco CEO, founder of Fair Trade Electronics in Holland, exporter.
·         Reed Miller, Researcher, MIT.
·         Lynn Rubenstein, Exec Director, NERC.org. Board Member, R2 Solutions.

European Police Arrest Africans for Environmental Racism

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 04:02:00 +0000

"African On African Externalization Matrix"
Compounds Harm, Confounding Pollution Watchdogs

Interpol vs. Reuse Matrix

[Lyons, France April 1, 2013] Multiple European and American Police forces converged on African used computer businesses in Egypt, Nigeria and Ghana today, seizing equipment destined for reuse in the growing cities of Cairo, Accra and Lagos. The Africans were called part of an extremely organized syndicate which imported used "e-waste" from Europe and the USA, and laundered it for two decades, through a matrix of African "middlemen" at hospitals and internet cafes. Eventually, the importers planned to turn it in for disposal at African dumps and junkyards, many years later.

The sting on trans-boundary and trans-neighborhood movement of used goods was described by International Police and EPA as a complex system, or "e-waste matrix". The trans-boundary movement had not been apparent, and therefore hidden. According to the agencies, African buyers based in the UK, USA, and EU have cleverly avoided used electronics which were obsolete, in order to "bide their time" in a network of African-on-African reuse, planning eventually to burn the computers in a fire.

Acceptable

"The buyers are organized, and therefore we can call them 'organized crime'," said Emile Lundermiller, author of Interpol's 2009 Report on E-Waste Export Crime. "It's ingenious. They can apparently hide the computers, monitors, and televisions in plain sight for decades, in living rooms and offices."

Lundemiller continued, "Africans pay for it with African money, and distribute it into the cities before we can even catch it." He cited the PIOOA statistic, that up to 79.5% percent of Africans are actively involved in the purchase, sale, repair, use, and reuse of electronics which ultimately victimizes Africans. "It's environmental racism of the worst kind, African against African," said Lundemiller. "Africans routinely externalize waste to other Africans, exploiting each other, using more Africans as the middlemen, in a cross-fire of repurposed gear."

A Matrix of Self-inflicted racism:

As profiled in Lundemiller's 2009 Interpol Report on E-Waste Crime, the initial e-waste transaction is initiated by Africans, based in Europe, who cleverly test equipment prior to export. By avoiding very old and obviously obsolete equipment, the African buyers make the equipment pass as working and repairable, exempt from European E-Waste shredding laws. "They cleverly avoided the older, larger TVs. This would have been difficult to track if their inter-African system of trade hadn't tipped us off," said the enforcement agency's undercover spokesperson, wearing a grass skirt, and carrying a canvas drum.

E-waste repaired to disguise its waste-ness

As documented in studies and audits from the Basel Convention Secretariat, African buyers showed a strong preference for newer-looking, black plastic, major brand name, and working equipment. Usually the ones rejected had more copper and precious metals, but the patient importers forgo the cash in order to stymie investigators.

Between 85% and 90% of the e-waste the Africans received in Lagos was made to function to such a high level that the e-waste could be passed along, for years, hidden through normal retail channels. After decades of reuse "laundering", the copper and other raw materials were to be harvested at African scrapyards.

Link to studies:
- USITC Estmates 88% of USA electronics are reused prior to disposal
- Arizona State University study documents 87% reuse prior to disposal
- Basel Secretariat studies (Ghana, Nigeria) find 85-90% of imports repaired or directly reused.
- BAN Kenya study estimates 90% reuse, 10% disposal

You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, er, Eden

In the latest break-up of the Egyptian "E-waste Cartel", the Cairo importer paid (according to EPA) $21 per CRT monitor, enough to ensure bad ones were removed and good ones relabelled. Once the Egyptian government spotted the use of the monitors in internet cafes, prior to the revolution, it reacted by decree. Any CRT, working or not, is defined to be "waste" if it came off an assembly line more than 5 years ago (a time few CRT monitors were being made).

Once the Egyptian government dictated the working equipment to be "#ewaste", and seized them to halt "use", EPA was able launch its arrests of Americans selling working monitors into that market. (China announced a similar move, labeling books with images of the Dali Llama to be "e-waste like").

Lecturing a room of confused police and detained Africans, Jim Puckett, Executive Director of Basel Action Network in Seattle, Washington, described the Reuse Matrix as a kind of internet "Rabbit Hole". "The African Reuse Matrix is a system. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? African Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it."

"Ultimately, we were correct about exports of intact units being dumped and burned," said Jim Puckett. "It may take decades, but we are now tracking the disposal of televisions purchased by Africans as long ago as 1978. What hath we wrought??"

EPA Proudly Stops Egyptian Monitor Reuse? Err...

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 02:51:00 +0000

I was aware of the company. I was aware of the market. I think the EPA press release, below, is referring to the sentencing of the same St. Louis company "profiled" in the Basel Action Network blog. which I covered in Environmental Malpractice 5.1 The Michigan owned Missouri company was trying to stay in the reuse business... selling used CRT monitors to a hungry bunch of Egyptians.

Michigan Computer Company Owner Sentenced for International Environmental, Counterfeiting Crimes

In the year before the first "Arab Spring" revolt, in Iran, Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was already beginning to feel the heat. Iran's regime would survive, but Mubarak would be the second to face internet impeachment, after Tunisia and before Libya. In the years running up to that revolt, Mubarak called used CRT monitors "e-waste" and made it illegal to import them if they were more than 5 years after the date of original manufacture.

Keep in mind that CRTs last 20-25 years, and keep in mind that the "original manufacture date" is typically a year before it's even sold at retail. That means an American would have to buy the 25-year CRT, use it for three years, and then leave time for a collector to inspect it and send it to Egypt.

Discount Computers (and I know of one other doing this in the USA, and two in other countries), was taking the good CRTs which might be 6, 7, or 8 years old, and putting a new label, in Arabic, which said something like "remade on". This would allow the Egyptian buyer, sometimes with the help of a bribe, to get the working and repairable CRTs into Alexandria and Cairo, where they were sold in shops like the ones I photographed in the blog about innocent "Hurricane Hamdy" (Environmental Malpractice).

Price of the mislabelled monitors? The Egyptian importer in this story, according to EPA, paid $21 apiece. That's Twenty-one US dollars... enough to make the mislabelling worth the trouble.

So why does EPA declare this? "By exporting older CRTs with fraudulent manufacture dates, Mark Jeffrey Glover sent a large quantity of older e-waste overseas which was subjected to improper recycling, increasing the potential for environmental and human exposure to hazardous materials. "

Profiling Anyone? Is this what we call "environmental justice?"

Why Hasn't BAN Waived Banner?

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 03:37:00 +0000

CAER, ETBC, and BAN.org have been telling us all that most exports of used equipment to Africa are burned in primitive conditions, exploiting child workers.

So this story a month ago should have been run up the flagpole, right?

The silence is deafening.

This INTERPOL arrest story was weeks after my "MALPRACTICE" blogs, bemoaning the arrests of Joseph Benson, Medi-com, Semarang and other GOC's.

We only get 200 or so readers per post.

Why didn't BAN, E-Stewards, somebody, run David Higgins INTEROL story up the flagpole?

They know this arrest scoop was over the top.

They know also, I say, their role in the Rosie Geek Parks arrests.

Arrests of e-waste export professional geeks is no longer a "flagpole" moment. There is significant doubt every time an African fixer is arrested. It is bubbling up the chain. Expect David Higgins to hear, soon, that his massive racial profiling arrest is not quite as popular as it was ... in 1951 Alabama.

#Benson #MediCom #Chiu

If you run an "e-waste export arrest" story, as BAN now knows, you WILL BE TAGGED. The arrested will get a virtual trial of their peers #@fairtraderecycling

Constructive Fair Trade Recycling Breakthrough

noreply@blogger.com (WR3A's Robin Ingenthron) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:44:00 +0000

So where do we go from here?

"Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it."
-- Mark Twain

"Loyalty to the environment always. Loyalty to the environmentalists when they deserve it." ---- Robin Ingenthron

Below is a letter which I'd like to say I just received from the Basel Action Network and Electronic Takeback Campaign.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Dear Robin,

Our organization is very unhappy with your characterization of us, in your blog and public addresses. Basel Action Network is driven by a mission of protecting the world's poor from externalization of toxics and toxic processes. If a recycling process is going to permanently poison the groundwater, or pose risk to young mothers and children, BAN will not be intimidated. The Basel Convention is an international treaty which recognizes the risks faced by the poor when the cost of toxics disposal rises, and we have been one of the sole organizations which holds the USA accountable for that standard.

With that said, we have studied the allegations which you have made, and we are determined to behave as morally and as accurately as possible. The three specific cases you have raised - of the arrest of Joseph Benson in England, of the seizure of goods from Medi-com of Egypt, and the unfair and defamatory characterization of shipments from Gordon Chiu's company to Semarang, Indonesia, appear to be something our organization should listen to and learn more about. If it is true that these traders were unfairly profiled, or treated unfairly, based on BAN's characterization of the export market, we want to learn from their experiences, reassess our roles, and grow from it.

Just as your statements have been hurtful to our staff and volunteers, we recognize that statistics BAN has used, irregardless of our intentions, may have created collateral damage or been hurtful to genuine reuse and repair businesses in emerging markets. We don't know that to be true, but we take the allegation seriously. If our organization has said anything which has led to the arrest or seizure of goods from a legitimate business in the developing world, our organization will investigate, learn, and if appropriate, make amends.

The studies you have cited about reuse, and the percentage of waste we filmed which was not imported but generated in these developing countries, raise genuine questions we were not able to consider when we began this campaign. We are dedicated to the truth, and agree that effective policy must be supported by facts. With our combined expertise, we believe that Basel Action Network and Fair Trade Recycling can achieve a better outcome than if we continue with the he-said, she-said dialectic. Let's improve on the quality of goods shipped, legally and ethically, without either obfuscating or apologizing for genuine pollution, nor mis-characterizing the efforts of entrepreneurs in these developing countries.

Sincerely,

_______________________________________________________________________________
This would deserve my loyalty:

Yes, this would be a really great letter to receive... it would deserve my loyalty, it would make them genuine environmentalists. I've been hurt for standing up for innocent friends. I nearly lost lynchpins in my $3M business. I've had to defend myself from the assumption that anyone against BAN must be in favor of poisoning children. The defamation was not just to my friends, it was to my business and its employees.

No. But in the same vein, BAN, by being in favor of HR2284 and other conservative anti-trade policies, is not "in favor" of racial profiling, or Interpol arresting people who have purchased 90% working equipment.

If BAN could feel secure enough in their position to publicly address the allegations, and to actually consider the possibility that Joseph Benson, Gordon Chiu, and Hamdy Moussa, were innocent... If they would at least take down the "trophies" of press coverage when these men were hanged in a court of environmental tweetery... I could lay down my pen.

I invite them to write a letter from me. We could each sign one another's letter, and it would be a huge success at the Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit. They would steal the show.

We have to air the debate publicly try to arrive at a truer mark than "80% of e-waste is exported". When you get a celebrity journalist to endorse your statistic, it's not totally your fault. But when you see the stat run like a virus from celeb to celeb, at some point the victory must seem cold if the lives of innocents are trampled.

Such a letter would allow me to respond in kind by recognizing BAN's intentions with the E-Stewards program, without feeling that I was selling out people I genuinely think are innocent of most of the charges attributed to them. I would see hope that the Watchdogs are willing to admit to the possibility of "collateral damage", to entertain the idea that they've made reckless accusations, and I would be invested in helping them understand this world trade better than they have.

I think Mike Enberg might have the guts to do this, and he'd find why Jim Puckett found me such a friend 7-8 years ago. At FTR, we don't know who calls the shots on the West Coast. We know what keeps them from looking closely at collatoral damage. If my writing has hurt someone somewhere in the world, I'd want to know the possibility.

Meriam-Webster on "Stewardship": The conducting, supervising, or managing of something;especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care <stewardship of natural resources>