Computer Makers Seek 'Export-for-Repair' Exemptions to Dump E-Waste, Says Green Group
Computer manufacturers, through the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), are "pressing hard" for "export-for-repair" exemptions in the Basel Convention treaty that would inundate developing countries with mountains of e-waste shipped there on the false premise that the junk can be refurbished and resold, according to the Basel Action Network (BAN). BAN claims the proposed exemptions would allow "untested or non-functional" e-waste, much of it containing toxic materials, "to be considered a non-waste and subject to free-trade in many circumstances so long as the exporter can claim that that the old equipment might be repairable."
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Jim Puckett, BAN's executive director thinks the computer industry's push is "really a very shocking effort to further widen the floodgates of a tide of toxic techno-trash already inundating ports and dumps in Africa and Asia," he said. "It's all just a bit disingenuous to claim that exporting broken, obsolete toxic equipment to developing countries is best for the environment." ITI's member companies include Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, LG, Samsung and Sony, many of which "individually have boasted policies against exports of e-waste," BAN said. "Yet it is known that ITI lobbyists have been approaching countries all over the world for months to persuade them to de-list broken, obsolete, used equipment from being considered waste under Basel, as long as it is exported in various broad categories of 'repairable' electronics." ITI representatives didn't immediately comment.