[tinwhiskers] Re: Dell Bans E-Waste Exports
- From: "Dr Mark Vaughan" <mark@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 May 2009 07:45:04 +0100
Trouble is they use the words BROKEN.
Most of the illegal exporters here in the UK claim they refurb them before
sending them overseas, so customs don't stop them.
It takes time to refurb a PC, or even test it, and the manpower to PC ratio
with these firms makes it impossible to truly claim they are refurbed.
Regs Mark
Dr. Mark Vaughan Ph'D., B.Eng. M0VAU
Managing Director
Vaughan Industries Ltd., reg in UK no 2561068
Water Care Technology Ltd, reg in UK no 4129351
Addr Unit3, Sydney House, Blackwater, Truro, Cornwall, TR4 8HH UK.
Phone/Fax 44 (0) 1872 561288
RSGB DRM111 (Cornwall)
From: tinwhiskers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:tinwhiskers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Landman
Sent: 13 May 2009 01:04
To: tin whiskers forum
Subject: [tinwhiskers] Dell Bans E-Waste Exports
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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