[tinwhiskers] Dell Bans E-Waste Exports
- From: "Bob Landman" <rlandman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tin whiskers forum" <tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 20:04:21 -0400
Maybe if this had been done years ago we wouldn't have the EU foolishly banning
lead based solders?
Bob Landman
H&L Instruments, LLC
http://www.manufacturing.net/article.aspx?id=198238
Dell Bans E-Waste Exports
By Jessica Mintz, AP Technology Writer
Manufacturing.Net - May 12, 2009
SEATTLE (AP) -- PC maker Dell Inc. formally banned on Tuesday the export of
broken computers, monitors and parts to developing countries amid complaints
that lax enforcement of environmental and worker-safety regulations have
allowed an informal and often hazardous electronic-waste recycling industry to
emerge.
Although Dell's announcement does not mark a significant change in the PC
maker's behavior, environmental groups hope that by making its standards
public, Dell will raise the bar for other electronics makers.
In the absence of U.S. regulations, those groups are banking on competitive
pressure to make companies improve their e-waste practices.
"This is a very significant announcement," said Barbara Kyle, national
coordinator of the Electronics Takeback Coalition, which has long pressured
Dell and other electronics makers to improve their recycling programs. "It may
seem like nuance, but what Dell's doing is drawing a very sharp and clear line
and saying they won't cross it, in a way that is just much brighter and clearer
than the way anyone else does it."
Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, is the world's No. 2 maker of personal
computers, behind Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard Co.
Environmental groups like Greenpeace and the Basel Action Network have tracked
shipments of e-waste intended for recycling to countries such as China, Ghana
and Nigeria and found computers, TVs and other electronics being dismantled by
smashing or burning, exposing people to mercury, lead and other toxic chemicals.
No one knows exactly how much of the electronics turned over to recyclers ends
up in such conditions, but Greenpeace and others say it could be 50 percent to
80 percent of the items collected in the U.S. for recycling.
That's despite broad acceptance of the Basel Convention, an international
treaty that controls the movement of hazardous waste across borders. The U.S.,
which has no federal law against sending such e-waste to scrap dealers
overseas, has yet to ratify the Basel Convention.
Dell said it had already required contractors to keep e-waste out of developing
countries. But until now, the company had not published as clear a policy for
the handling of electronics collected by its consumer and business recycling
programs -- 290 million pounds in the five or so years since Dell started
counting.
In its revised policy, Dell defined e-waste as any non-working parts or
devices, and the company said none of that material can be exported from
developed countries to developing ones. The Basel Convention's definition, by
comparison, is based more on whether materials contain toxic substances.
The PC maker contracts directly with about 25 recycling companies around the
world; those companies, in turn, send out parts or shredded materials to a much
wider network of subcontractors. To ensure compliance, Dell said it has already
been auditing every one of those companies and tracks the electronics from the
point of collection to its very last stop.
Dell's Mark Newton, a senior manager for environmental sustainability, said the
PC maker chooses to work only with recyclers that abide by its standards in
order to protect its reputation.
"We have suppliers lining up to work with us. There are plenty of reputable
suppliers," Newton said. "It's just a matter of time before companies operating
on the margins lose the business of companies that are serious about doing this
the right way."
Dell's policy does have exceptions. Raw materials that can go right back into
manufacturing, like plastics that don't contain any harmful chemicals, or
unleaded glass, can be sent to developing countries. There's also an exception
for non-working parts or devices that need to be sent back to manufacturers in
developing countries because of warranty agreements.
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