‘Commodity Value’ of E-waste ‘no Longer Funds Its Responsible Management,’ Green Group Says

Many e-waste recyclers are “on the brink” of financial ruin because they lack the resources to “responsibly manage” junked electronics and stay profitable, the Basel Action Network said Thursday in a blog post. BAN cited the example of a former e-Stewards recycler, Global Environmental Services, which was found to have buried trashed CRT TVs in a big hole dug behind its warehouse in Lexington, Kentucky. “While these acts are inexcusable choices by private companies, it is critical for waste generators to understand that increasing incidents of abandonment, illegal dumping, and burning, are occurring now within the context of a larger problem,” BAN said. The recent “devaluation” of copper, steel and plastics “commodities” has left many e-cyclers holding the bag for “the nation's consumer and corporate e-waste,” it said. "It's easy to point fingers at individual recyclers to lay the obvious blame, when in fact we have a larger systemic problem that must be addressed at once," it said. "Everyone, including those running state e-waste programs, must realize that things have changed -- recycling is a service that must be well paid for." As the “commodity value” of e-waste “no longer funds its responsible management, state programs, companies and all of us who use electronics, must step up and be willing to adequately fund responsible care of these devices at the end of their useful lives,” it said.