Fwd: [Stop the Poisons] ELECTRONICS RECYCLING

[Guest guest]

AP newswire: ((some)) truth re electronics

recycling

Posted by: " fiasfolks "

Ijamsville97

fiasfolks

 

Mon Nov 19, 2007 1:11 pm (PST)

Recycling in the 'Most Horrific Way' AP 2007-11-19

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Nov. 18) - Most Americans think they're helping the earth when they recycle their old computers, televisions and cell phones. But chances are they're contributing to a global trade in electronic trash that endangers workers and pollutes the environment overseas.

While there are no precise figures, activists estimate that 50 to 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year ends up overseas. Workers in countries such as China, India and Nigeria then use hammers, gas burners and their bare hands to extract metals, glass and other recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to a cocktail of toxic chemicals.

" It is being recycled, but it's being recycled in the most

horrific way you can imagine, " said Jim Puckett of the Basel Action

Network, the Seattle-based environmental group that tipped off Hong Kong authorities. " We're preserving our own environment, but

contaminating the rest of the world. "

The gear most likely to be shipped abroad is collected at free recycling drives, often held each April around Earth Day, recycling industry officials say. The sponsors -- chiefly companies, schools, cities and counties -- often hire the cheapest firms and do not ask enough questions about what becomes of the discarded equipment, the officials say.

Many so-called recyclers simply sell the working units and components, then give or sell the remaining scrap to export brokers.

" There are a lot of people getting away with exporting

e-waste, " said John Bekiaris, chief executive of San Francisco-based HMR USA Inc., which collects and disposes of unwanted IT equipment from Bay Area businesses. " Anyone who's disposing of their computer equipment really needs to do a thorough inspection of the vendors they

use. "

The problem could get worse. Most of the 2 million tons of old electronics discarded annually by Americans goes to U.S. landfills, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. But a growing number of states are banning such waste from landfills, which could drive more waste into the recycling stream and fuel exports, activists say.

Many brokers claim they are simply exporting used equipment for reuse in poor countries. That's what happened in September, when customs officials in Hong Kong were tipped off by environmentalists and intercepted two freight containers. They cracked the containers open and found hundreds of old computer monitors and televisions discarded by Americans thousands of miles away.

China bans the import of electronic waste, so the containers were sent back to the U.S.

The company that shipped out the containers was Fortune Sky USA, a Cordova, Tennessee-based subsidiary of a Chinese company. General manager Vincent Yu said his company thought it was buying and shipping used computers, not old monitors and televisions, and is trying to get its money back.

Fortune Sky exports used computers and components to China, Malaysia, Vietnam and other Asian countries.

" There's a huge market over there for secondhand computers that

we don't use anymore, " Yu said. " I don't think it's going to

cause any pollution. If the equipment can still be used, then that's good for everybody. "

Yu refused to say where he bought the material, but Basel Action Network tracked it to a San Antonio, Texas, company that collects computers, printers and other electronics from schools and

businesses.

Activists complain that most exporters don't test units to make sure they work before sending them overseas.

" Reuse is the new excuse. It's the new passport to export, "

said Puckett of Basel Action Network. " Other countries are facing

this glut of exported used equipment under the pretext that it's all going to be reused. "

At the other end at customs, the goods don't always get checked either.

" It is impossible to stop and check every single container

imported into Hong Kong, " said Kenneth Chan of Hong Kong's Environmental Protection Department. " Smugglers may also deliberately declare their ... waste as goods. "

In the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong authorities returned 85 containers of electronic junk, including 20 from the U.S.

Exporting most electronic waste isn't illegal in the United States. The U.S. does bar the export of monitors and televisions with

cathode- ray tubes without permission from the importing country, but federal authorities don't have the resources to check most containers.

The EPA recognizes the problem but doesn't believe that stopping exports is the solution, said Matt Hale, who heads the agency's office of solid waste. Since most electronics are manufactured abroad, it makes sense to recycle them abroad, Hale said.

" What we need to do is work internationally to upgrade the

standards (for recycling) wherever it takes place, " he said.

The EPA is working with environmental groups, recyclers and electronics manufacturers to develop a system to certify companies that recycle electronics responsibly. But so far the various players have not agreed on standards and enforcement.

Many activists believe the answer lies in requiring electronics makers to take back and recycle their own products. Such laws would encourage manufacturers to make products that are easier to recycle and contain fewer dangerous chemicals, they say.

Eight states, including five this year, have passed such laws, and companies such as Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Sony now take back their products at no charge. Some require consumers to mail in their old gear, while others have drop-off centers. HP says it also now designs its equipment with fewer toxic materials and has made it easier to recycle.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press tAt 10:49 AM 11/20/07, you wrote:

AP newswire: ((some)) truth re

electronics recycling

Posted by: " fiasfolks " Ijamsville97

fiasfolks

Mon Nov 19, 2007 1:11 pm (PST)

Recycling in the 'Most Horrific Way'

AP

2007-11-19

SAN FRANCISCO, California (Nov. 18) - Most Americans think they're

helping the earth when they recycle their old computers, televisions

 

and cell phones. But chances are they're contributing to a global

trade in electronic trash that endangers workers and pollutes the

environment overseas.

While there are no precise figures, activists estimate that 50 to 80

 

percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for

recycling in the U.S. each year ends up overseas. Workers in

countries such as China, India and Nigeria then use hammers, gas

burners and their bare hands to extract metals, glass and other

recyclables, exposing themselves and the environment to a cocktail of

 

toxic chemicals.

" It is being recycled, but it's being recycled in the most horrific

 

way you can imagine, " said Jim Puckett of the Basel Action Network,

 

the Seattle-based environmental group that tipped off Hong Kong

authorities. " We're preserving our own environment, but

contaminating

the rest of the world. "

The gear most likely to be shipped abroad is collected at free

recycling drives, often held each April around Earth Day, recycling

industry officials say. The sponsors -- chiefly companies, schools,

cities and counties -- often hire the cheapest firms and do not ask

enough questions about what becomes of the discarded equipment, the

officials say.

Many so-called recyclers simply sell the working units and

components, then give or sell the remaining scrap to export

brokers.

" There are a lot of people getting away with exporting

e-waste, " said

John Bekiaris, chief executive of San Francisco-based HMR USA Inc.,

which collects and disposes of unwanted IT equipment from Bay Area

businesses. " Anyone who's disposing of their computer equipment

 

really needs to do a thorough inspection of the vendors they

use. "

The problem could get worse. Most of the 2 million tons of old

electronics discarded annually by Americans goes to U.S. landfills,

according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. But a growing

 

number of states are banning such waste from landfills, which could

drive more waste into the recycling stream and fuel exports,

activists say.

Many brokers claim they are simply exporting used equipment for reuse

 

in poor countries. That's what happened in September, when customs

officials in Hong Kong were tipped off by environmentalists and

intercepted two freight containers. They cracked the containers open

 

and found hundreds of old computer monitors and televisions discarded

 

by Americans thousands of miles away.

China bans the import of electronic waste, so the containers were

sent back to the U.S.

The company that shipped out the containers was Fortune Sky USA, a

Cordova, Tennessee-based subsidiary of a Chinese company. General

manager Vincent Yu said his company thought it was buying and

shipping used computers, not old monitors and televisions, and is

trying to get its money back.

Fortune Sky exports used computers and components to China, Malaysia,

 

Vietnam and other Asian countries.

" There's a huge market over there for secondhand computers that we

 

don't use anymore, " Yu said. " I don't think it's going to cause

any

pollution. If the equipment can still be used, then that's good for

everybody. "

 

Yu refused to say where he bought the material, but Basel Action

Network tracked it to a San Antonio, Texas, company that collects

computers, printers and other electronics from schools and

businesses.

Activists complain that most exporters don't test units to make sure

 

they work before sending them overseas.

" Reuse is the new excuse. It's the new passport to export, "

said

Puckett of Basel Action Network. " Other countries are facing this

 

glut of exported used equipment under the pretext that it's all going

 

to be reused. "

At the other end at customs, the goods don't always get checked

either.

" It is impossible to stop and check every single container imported

 

into Hong Kong, " said Kenneth Chan of Hong Kong's Environmental

 

Protection Department. " Smugglers may also deliberately declare

 

their ... waste as goods. "

In the first nine months of this year, Hong Kong authorities returned

 

85 containers of electronic junk, including 20 from the U.S.

Exporting most electronic waste isn't illegal in the United States.

The U.S. does bar the export of monitors and televisions with

cathode-

ray tubes without permission from the importing country, but federal

 

authorities don't have the resources to check most containers.

The EPA recognizes the problem but doesn't believe that stopping

exports is the solution, said Matt Hale, who heads the agency's

office of solid waste. Since most electronics are manufactured

abroad, it makes sense to recycle them abroad, Hale said.

" What we need to do is work internationally to upgrade the standards

 

(for recycling) wherever it takes place, " he said.

The EPA is working with environmental groups, recyclers and

electronics manufacturers to develop a system to certify companies

that recycle electronics responsibly. But so far the various players

 

have not agreed on standards and enforcement.

Many activists believe the answer lies in requiring electronics

makers to take back and recycle their own products. Such laws would

encourage manufacturers to make products that are easier to recycle

and contain fewer dangerous chemicals, they say.

Eight states, including five this year, have passed such laws, and

companies such as Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Sony now take back

 

their products at no charge. Some require consumers to mail in their

 

old gear, while others have drop-off centers. HP says it also now

designs its equipment with fewer toxic materials and has made it

easier to recycle.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press

 

******

Kraig and Shirley Carroll ... in the woods of SE Kentucky

http://www.thehavens.com/

thehavens

606-376-3363

 

 

 

---

Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.

Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).

Version: 6.0.859 / Virus Database: 585 - Release 2/14/05