Four of six LCD monitors exported as e-waste to Guatemala were in “likely violation” of the country’s import laws and Dell’s corporate policy, said the Basel Action Network Wednesday. GPS monitoring of recyclers and takeback programs found the electronic waste LCDs were exported after a donation to the Dell/Goodwill partnership known as Dell Reconnect, the partnership’s third such violation, said BAN. Under the Basel Convention, it's illegal for Guatemala to receive electronic waste from the U.S. All Reconnect program electronic waste should go directly to Dell recycling partners, but six broken mercury lamp back-lit LCD computer monitors fitted with GPS trackers that BAN delivered to a Washington, D.C., Goodwill store never went through the proper Dell recycling process, BAN said. Four of the monitors went to Guatemala City, two others to solid waste disposal companies in Maryland, it said. According to Dell, which BAN contacted, the flat screens were accidentally put into a bin full of used textiles at Goodwill. Goodwill of Greater Washington says it will take two corrective actions: require Whitehouse and Schapiro (the likely exporter) to set aside any found electronics and agree to refresh employee training, said BAN. Dell didn't comment Thursday.

Thailand imposed a “full prohibition” on e-waste imports from the U.S., Australia, Japan and other developed countries, reported the Basel Action Network Tuesday. It's among green groups urging a ban for years and is now calling on the Thai government for “vigorous enforcement of the law.” After China began banning e-waste imports two years ago, “many traders simply moved highly polluting waste operations” to India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand, said BAN. It used GPS trackers to monitor e-waste flows across the world, discovering “numerous” shipments ending up in Thailand from Germany and Australia, it said. It called on all countries to impose import bans. “Once your country and countryside becomes a target of the global waste traders it is too late to prevent the destruction they can cause," said BAN Executive Director Jim Puckett. Thailand's embassy in Washington didn't comment right away.

Domestic recycling of consumer electronics “could extend the supply and reduce the current U.S. reliance on imports,” reported GAO Monday. New technologies are becoming available, “but electronics recycling is complex and faces challenges, such as narrow profit margins,” it said. Policy questions to consider, it said, include how to leverage innovation, economic development and advanced manufacturing “to promote a more robust domestic electronics recycling industry.” It asked what federal and state governments can do to “incentivize recycling.”

Electronics Recycling International was declared an “essential business” in virtually all U.S. localities where stay-at-home orders are imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, emailed Executive Chairman John Shegerian Wednesday. ERI is “servicing all our clients across the country that need our services, without disruption,” he said. ERI runs the ecycleNYC takeback program for the New York Sanitation Department, which this week suspended e-waste collections from apartment buildings due to high demand for garbage removal and coronavirus-induced worker shortages (see 2004080013).

ERI, CTA and Samsung are sponsoring a recycling event Jan. 4, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. PST, for Las Vegas residents to dispose of their unwanted electronics in an environmentally responsible way for free, said a news release Friday. As part of the take-back program, ERI will recycle collected e-waste by securely destroying all data from electronic devices in the process, it said. Accepted items include computer equipment, TVs and mobile devices. The event will be held at the Salvation Army, 2035 Yale St., North Las Vegas.

Dell, LG, Samsung, Sony, TCL and Vizio are among the winners of the EPA's Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Electronics Challenge Awards to be recognized at CES. Winners helped keep 194,500 tons of electronics out of landfills by sending them to certified third-party recyclers, EPA said Wednesday. The agency highlighted Dell and Samsung as SMM Electronics Challenge Champion Award winners for innovation in an environmentally responsible way, going “above and beyond” challenge requirements. Dell developed a closed-loop process for recovering rare earth elements from magnets in end-of-life hard disk drives, it said. Samsung developed an affordable, upcycled "diagnosis camera" from smartphones to improve eye healthcare in underserved populations; the camera extends the life of obsolete phones, uses 50 percent recycled content and is designed for easy reuse or recovery, EPA said. According to the latest data, Americans generated 2.84 million tons of waste from consumer electronics goods in 2017; 35.9 percent of the waste was recycled. Other award winners were Sprint, Staples and Xerox.

The Basel Convention’s global ban on exporting e-waste and other hazardous materials to developing countries became international law Thursday, said the Basel Action Network. Ninety-nine countries have ratified the ban, but not the U.S., which “produces the most waste per-capita,” said the green group.

Recycler ERI and TCL will collect unwanted electronics for free Friday at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, as part of America Recycles Day. The companies encourage area residents to bring in TVs, phones, laptops and monitors 10 a.m.-1 p.m., and will also accept videogame consoles, hard drives, DVD players, VCRs and other electronics. TCL chose ERI to ensure products “are recycled responsibly," it said. Participants dropping off eligible products can receive a free burger on-site from an In-N-Out Burger food truck, they said Tuesday. ERI has the capacity to process more than a billion pounds of electronic waste annually at its eight certified locations, it said.

Sony Electronics is the first consumer tech company to sign the EPA’s America Recycles Pledge, said the firm Wednesday. Seventy-four other companies, groups and municipalities have signed the pledge, including Target and Walmart. Those signing vow to work with EPA and the other signatories “to build on our existing efforts to address the challenges facing our nation's recycling system and to identify solutions that create a more resilient materials economy and protect the environment.” The goal of Sony’s global environmental plan, called the Road to Zero, is to achieve a “zero environmental footprint throughout the lifecycle of Sony’s products and business activities” by 2050, said the company.

The 14th Basel Convention adjourned last week in Geneva without approving a technical guideline on the proper movement of e-waste across international borders, said the Basel Action Network Monday. The guideline included shipment exemptions on e-waste claimed for repair, and failed to win enough support from developing countries that fear unsavory exporters will exploit the exemption “to get rid of low-value electronic scrap,” said BAN. The green group opposes the exemption as “a very dangerous idea because unscrupulous waste traders would simply declare everything to be repairable to legally dump hazardous e-wastes on developing countries," it said.