Electronics Recycling News
Warning: Digital Conversion May Result in Tsunami of Toxic TV Exports to Developing Countries
Seattle, WA. June 12, 2009. The toxic waste watchdog organization, the Basel Action Network BAN), is warning consumers to be extremely careful about where they take their old TVs for recycling following the nationwide conversion from analog-to-digital broadcasting. They are urging consumers to only use qualified e-Steward recyclers, the only list identifying electronic waste recyclers that will not export toxic TVs and other electronic waste to a developing country.
After today when many Americans wake up to no TV signal without a special converter box, cable or satellite, many will make the choice to finally upgrade their old “cathode ray tube” TV to a slick new flat screen TV. Their old TV is obsolete and now a waste object for disposal, and smart consumers may believe that recycling is a better choice than placing it in a dumpster or at the curbside.
But BAN warns that currently, due to a lack of legislation forbidding such trade, about 80% of those companies calling themselves “recyclers” in North America will simply export your old TV to countries like China, India, or Nigeria where the toxic leaded glass, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants which are found in materials in old TVs will poison villagers using primitive technologies to recover some materials, and then dump or burn the rest of the electronic waste.(1)
“There are few regulations in place and the ones that do exist are easily circumvented. So many of these so-called recyclers take your TV or computer for free, or pocket your environmental fee, and then just turn around and ship your old TV to China or Vietnam,” said Sarah Westervelt e-Stewardship Director at BAN. “There, our old entertainment devices end up causing misery and disease, and ultimately contaminate the entire planet, distributing lead, mercury, and cadmium into the ecosphere – not a good plan for anyone, anywhere.”
It has been conservatively estimated by some recyclers that due to the digital conversion, about one in four households will get rid of a TV this year. If that is true, it would mean 27,790,564 TVs, each containing an average of 5 pounds of lead, will be disposed or recycled. And with 80% of this total shunted offshore to developing countries, about 56,000 tons of toxic lead alone would be transferred and dumped on some of the world's poorest communties.
In 2002 and 2005, BAN released two documentary films, Exporting Harm and The Digital Dump, shining a spotlight on the horrors of the global e-waste trade and its very damaging impacts of toxic constituents in electronic products on the workers and environments of communities in Africa and China. Last year they went with CBS's 60 Minutes program to China and found the devastation of the environment from imported e-waste had gotten far worse. Recent studies in Guiyu, China, ground zero of the international waste trade, show some of the highest levels of dioxin, lead and other cancer-causing pollutants ever recorded. Lead in the blood of 80 percent of the Guiyu's children is dangerously high and already demonstrable brain impairment has been recorded.
A 2008 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) condemned the EPA for not having comprehensive rules to control e-waste exports and poorly enforcing the one law that does exist for TVs and Computer monitors known as the “CRT Rule”.(2) Since then, the EPA has begun welcomed enforcement of that rule, but unfortunately the law contains loopholes, exempting much of the leaded glass from regulation. BAN, together with the Electronics TakeBack Coalition (ETBC), is currently seeking national legislation to ban the export of all toxic e-waste (not just CRTs) to developing countries as all European countries have already done.(3) And BAN has created the e-Stewards Initiative – a list of responsible e-cyclers* that have agreed not to export hazardous e-wastes to developing countries.
"The current legislative landscape is a haven for 'waste cowboys' that use developing countries as global dumping grounds when there is a profit to be made," said Jim Puckett, BAN's Executive Director. "The e-Stewards are ethical recyclers that will not export toxic e-Waste under the false pretext of recycling or reuse."
Contact: Jim Puckett: 206-354-0391; Sarah Westervelt: 206-604-9024
Photos, research and documentation available:
Photographs available at: www.ban.org/photogallery/ and others upon request.
*For a list of e-Steward Recyclers: www.e-Stewards.org. The e-Stewards recyclers are currently subject to significant desk audits, verifying all of their downstream destinations throughout the recycling chain of toxic wastes, as defined internationally. However, the program will soon become an accredited, third party audited, certification program. For more information check the website above.
For more information on illegal and irresponsible e-waste export: www.ban.org
(1) Just this last month BAN blew the whistle on EarthECycle, a Tulsa, OK., based recycler operating free takeback events in Pittsburgh and claiming that the waste would be processed locally. BAN tracked their containers to Hong Kong and to South Africa. Last year BAN assisted CBS’s 60 Minutes program in exposing another exporter known as Executive Recycling in Denver. For more information on these incidents visit www.ban.org.
(2) http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d081044.pdf
(3) A bill introduced last month by Congressmen Jim Thompson and Gene Green is unfortunately insupportable as it allows a massive loophole for exports claimed to be sent for “reuse”, a common ruse of unscrupulous exporters.
Wisconsin e-scrap bill passes Senate
Senate Bill 107 passed the out of the Wisconsin State Senate by a vote of 23-to-10, now moving on to the State Assembly for consideration. The bill sets up a sales-weight-based extended responsibility program for unwanted electronics devices for the Badger State, covering laptop and desktop computers, consumer video display devices of at least four inches diagonal measurement and printers.
If passed, the law would go into effect on September 1, 2009. The bill also includes a landfill ban on covered electronic devices.
Much-delayed DTV transition hits Friday
The much-ballyhooed, oft-delayed transition from analog to digital transmission of television signals is finally happening this Friday, June 12th, though the move may still leave millions without broadcast television.
The DTV transition was originally set for February 17th, but was delayed by Congressional vote to allow more time for individuals to receive the digital converter boxes needed to keep receiving over-the-air television programming. According to a Nielsen survey from late May, as many as 3.3 million households may not yet be ready for the switch.
If there was any doubt that the transition date would be moved again, U.S. President Barack Obama laid those concerns to rest. "The number of households unprepared for digital television has been cut in half," Obama said in a statement. "Still, some people are not ready. I want to be clear: there will not be another delay."
Though no comprehensive study has been done, there is much anecdotal evidence that an increased flow of televisions have been coming into recycling programs and solid waste collection depots around the country. Nearly half of the country's almost 1,800 full-power TV stations have already made the switch and turned off their analog signals.
EPEAT turns new tool on TVs
A consortium of television manufacturers, retailers, environmental groups and government agencies are working together to create a standard measuring the environmental impact of televisions.
The standard, which is tentatively called EPEAT-for-TV, is being led by the Green Electronics Council, through the IEEE Standards Association, and would reportedly be similar to the EPEAT metric currently in use for personal computers.
The new standard defines "environmental performance for televisions, television combination units, and component television units, relating to reduction or elimination of environmentally-sensitive materials, materials selection, design for end-of-life, lifecycle extension, energy conservation, end-of-life management, corporate performance, packaging, and other performance categories," all to be determined by the group working on the tool.
The rating system — purported to be have been met with considerable resistance from manufacturers — is expected to appear on televisions, in retail stores, in 18-to-24 months.
- E-Scrap News
Electronics recycling legislation update
California Assembly Bill 147 requires electronics manufacturers to provide information to the state about hazardous materials in their products. The bill passed out of Assembly by 42-to-32 vote, and is now in the state Senate.
AB 903, which recently passed out of the Assembly by a 77-to-two vote, amends requirements for state agencies reporting annually to the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) about solid waste diversion efforts. The bill demands agencies to summarize calculations of annual disposal reduction, including the diversion of e-waste, and detail programs or facilities established for the handling, diversion, and disposal of e-waste.
AB 1280 passed out of the Assembly by 76-to-zero vote, and expands the list of appliances not defined as "covered electronic devices" to include freezers, induction cooktops or ranges, beverage makers and food steamers.
Senate Bill 723 changes the frequency of the CIWMB electronic scrap recovery payment schedule calculation from bi-annually to yearly. The measure passed out of the Senate by 22-to-17 vote, and is currently in the Assembly.
Colorado House Bill 1282, approved by Governor Bill Ritter Jr. on June 1st, requires the state to create a task force to study the costs the benefits of implementing both a statewide e-scrap recycling program and a landfill disposal ban on devices covered under the plan.
Maine Legislative Document 536 amends the state's program to add desktop printers and video game consoles, and clarifies that digital picture frames are subject to the recycling laws. The bill passed the House by a 92-to-47 vote and is presently residing in the Senate. The measure also replaces manufacturer-responsibility provisions with an annual registration requirement.
LD 1156 — approved by Governor John E. Baldacci on June 2nd — changes the basis for television manufacturers' responsibility for recycling televisions to a market-share basis.
North Carolina SB 887 makes technical changes to the state's recycling program, such as redefining "computer equipment" to include notebook computers. The bill passed out of the Senate by 46-to-zero vote, and is currently in the House.
Nevada AB 426, approved by Governor Jim Gibbons on May 29th, requires the state to study programs for reusing and recycling computers and other electronics.
Texas HB 821 passed unanimously out of the Senate and is currently waiting for Governor Rick Perry's signature. The Television TakeBack Bill adds televisions to the list of covered devices under the state's electronics recycling law, passed in 2007.
Wisconsin SB 107 has been placed on the calendar for June 9th consideration by the Senate. The measure creates an extended producer responsibility program for video display devices (with screens four inches or larger), computers and printers.
- E-Scrap News