Business & Tech

Where E-Waste Lands: Laws, Stigmas and Truths

An industry expert weighs in on the larger problem fueling Intercon Solutions' conflict with the Basel Action Network: Is it really wrong to export scrapped electronics?

The lawsuit war between Intercon Solutions and the Basel Action Network is based on one assumption: Exporting CRT glass is bad. 

BAN accuses Intercon of "shipping waste to a foreign land and contributing to the poisoning of impoverished people in a developing country." But even if Intercon was responsible for CRT glass going to China, the outcome may not be as grim as we've been led to believe. 

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 Robin Ingenthron, CEO of Good Point Recycling in Vermont, long has been a proponent of exporting recyclables, including cathode ray tubes, to facilities in other countries. In editorials and blog posts, Ingenthron frequently equates the American aversion to exporting materials with backward thinking — even racism.

"All the press has been about one white guy accusing another white guy of selling to a brown guy," Ingenthron said in a phone interview. "The geeks of color are getting screwed."

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The "geeks of color" Ingenthron refers to are the monitor re-manufacturing facilities in developing countries, perfectly capable of processing CRTs but ignored because of an old stigma.

The 60 Minutes Story

Ingenthron has frequently fingered BAN as one of the sources of this stigma, more specifically BAN's involvement with a 60 Minutes investigative story in January 2010. In the video segment, reporter Scott Pelley busted Executive Recycling in Colorado for lying about shipping CRT monitors to developing countries.

BAN founder Jim Puckett travelled with Pelley to Guiyu, China, seemingly to follow Executive's CRT shipment, and pointed out the poor conditions of a recycling facility there. The problem, Ingenthron says, is that the facility had nothing to do with CRT monitors.

"If you look at that video, there isn't a single CRT monitor at that facility," Ingenthron said. "They didn't go to where the monitors went, which was probably a state-of-the-art facility in China."

Ingenthron has criticized Puckett for going with Pelley to the Guiyu facility and not mentioning that CRT monitors aren't processed there. 

"(Pelley) picks up a plastic monitor stand, and says that obviously they are de-manufacturing monitors here as well," Ingenthron said in a blog post analyzing the 60 Minutes story. "Jim Puckett is in the shot, but does not appear to correct him."

Ultimately, this national story painted a negative picture of exporting recyclables and has influenced the way U.S. companies do business, Ingenthron said. Puckett has often referenced the story in discussing the problem with exporting CRT glass, but if Pelley did not really follow the trail, BAN's argument about exporting loses its legs.

The Rules

Exporting CRT glass and batteries is not illegal. In fact, many companies openly have done so. As long as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in the know, businesses can ship millions of pounds of CRTs. 

In the past, Puckett has said the EPA's rules are not adequate, partly because the agency does not ensure those shipments comply with the laws of the country on the receiving end. Puckett also finds it problematic that the U.S. has not ratified the Basel Convention, a 20-year-old United Nations treaty that would make it altogether illegal to export CRT glass.

Not everyone agrees with Puckett on the treaty. Willie Cade, who has sat on multiple environmental committees with Puckett, doesn't think the Basel Convention applies well to electronics. 

"Basel is an old technology in the world of international regulation because it only focuses on waste," Cade said. "But electronics take a long time to actually become waste."

Without U.S. laws to cite, BAN ends up policing issues that, while perhaps morally questionable, aren't actually illegal. 

The Real Issues

Exporting may be the basis of BAN and Intercon's conflict, but the idea that it is wrong is purely subjective. The issues that accompany the export question have shed a negative light on both companies. 

While Intercon is not under fire for breaking any export laws, many would agree it's sneaky for a company to tell customers it doesn't export only to have someone else do so. Intercon's case could come down to what customers thought they were getting when they sent their electronics to the Chicago Heights-based company.  

BAN has plenty to explain as well. For example, it seems intentionally harmful to carbon copy Brundage's rejection letter to "selected news media." It is also strange that Electronics Recyclers International obtained the E-Stewards Certification after admitting to exporting nearly 7 million pounds of hazardous materials overseas.

Puckett and Brundage have both said they are confident the truth will come out when the suits go to trial. When that happens, Chicago Heights will feel the effect, whether it be a boost in the city's economy or a boost in its unemployment rate.

No matter what happens, this conflict will raise many questions about thousands of recycling companies in America. Do they really reduce, reuse and recycle? Let's hope so.

 

Patch's series on the conflict between Intercon and BAN:

  • Part 1: Protecting the Earth or Just Pretending? A Fight for Credibility in the Recycling Industry
  • Part 2: Heights Recycling Company Builds Case Against Seattle Watchdog
  • Part 3: Nonprofit and Ex-Employees Bash Heights Recycler's Business Practices 
  • Part 4: What's in a Name? Heights Recycler's Fate to be Decided in Court

 

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