Notice: This article is about a third party and not about ERI.
The e-waste crisis has created a underscored climate of deviation and departure from regulatory control. The controls are necessary in order to ensure that electronics are properly disposed. Without them, the dangers of too much e-waste become a reality, causing pollution of air, soil and water and threatening the livelihood and health of communities.
Players in the e-waste saga, from recyclers to consumers to electronics manufacturers do sometimes seek to circumvent these regulations for a number of reasons. Often it is cheaper and generally less of a hassle to ship electronics illegally to developing nations. Things get especially dicey when recyclers get paid to recycle electronics through government programs, only to ship them at a much cheaper rate to the poorest regions of west Africa or China.
There is ample evidence that such practices are occurring. A suspected “waste mafia” criminal network has even grown up around the practice. Yet there is sometimes little that can be done to hold large-scale clandestine e-waste trafficking accountable in ways that lead to arrest or punishment.
There is, too, the temptation among unqualified recyclers to simply dump electronics in the nearest open field or lake. This practice is likely to evoke the ire of governing organizations like the EPA if reported. This was the outcome in the case of violations by telecommunications giant AT&T. The result was a $52 million dollar settlement doled out to the EPA.
Illegal Shipping and Fraud in Chicago
That brings us to the case of a Chicago electronics waste recycler operating a facility in Gary, Indiana called Intercon Solutions, LLC. To any innocent consumer hoping to do his or her part by recycling electronics rather than improperly disposing them in a landfill or other unseemly location, Intercon might seem to be a logical choice for reliable recycling services.
However, Intercon proved not to be the best choice at all. After an investigation, police revealed terribly high amounts of fraudulent activity going on through the company for a period of almost a decade. Intercon owners had basically launched a sham recycling operation, where even the facility was a cadre of mere actors and a front for the real thing, meant to sidetrack inspectors.
The mode of operation for Intercon was simple: take in used electronic devices and either work out a deal with a used electronics dealer to take the bulk of the devices off its hands and ship the devices overseas – a practice which just so happens to be the bane of electronics recycling since the 1980’s – or simply dump potentially hazardous devices in landfills.
Alarming as it may seem, Intercon’s mode of operation is not so uncommon. The Basel Action Network, a sort of electronics recycling watchdog non-profit organization, has been on the forefront of tracking shipments of electronic waste and hazardous material to developing countries. The group has found that many of the most popular names in electronics manufacturing and recycling, including Dell, end up in huge waste piles in west Africa and China.
These slum villages of e-waste are a common sight to native citizens, and the presence of piles of discarded e-waste have a significant negative impact. Pollution to air, land and sea takes its toll in some of the poorest regions of these countries, and the presence of informal and unregulated smelting and incineration only adds to the decimation, often with burdensome effects on the health and viability of men, women and children in the area.
While many of these countries stand to benefit from the lucrative used electronics industry, the difficult problem is that many of the shipped electronics cannot be reused or repaired. Without suitable waste recovery infrastructure, which allows recyclers to recover valuable materials such as gold, silver and platinum from e-waste, the only end game for most illegally shipped and potentially hazardous devices is to lie in huge heaps of rubbage with nowhere to go.
Fixing Intercon and Other E-waste Offenders
The drama surrounding the Intercon scam is devastating news and a considerable blow to the integrity of the electronics recycling industry. Much of the success of the e-waste recycling message to consumers and businesses depends on gaining confidence and trust in a reliable recycling system.
When recyclers fraudulently misrepresent to consumers and businesses that materials will be recycled properly, electronics recycling itself gains a bad name. Even worse is when recyclers conduct clandestine and fraudulent operations while receiving public funds.
The good news is Intercon and other e-waste offenders are being held accountable. In particular the U.S. EPA Criminal Investigations Division, which helped to arrest and indict the Indiana owners of Intercon seeking a forfeiture of $10 million, is a viable unit of the EPA Criminal Enforcement program. The program assists with the investigation and prosecution of negligent, knowing or willful violations of federal environmental laws.
Watchdog organizations like BAN, which created an extensive report (pdf) on Intercon’s fraudulent activity, are also critical in order to keep electronics recycling safe and compliant. In addition, BAN’s e-Stewards Certification program gives consumers something to look out for when deciding on which reliable and law-abiding recycler to use for e-waste services.
Deviators in the E-waste Saga
The e-waste crisis is a huge one, described and reiterated in countless articles and research papers. Several factors lie at the heart of the issue as we try our best to both define the depths of the problem while simultaneously attempting to find viable solutions that every stakeholder will voluntarily participate in.
That is a challenge that seems almost out of reach. However, one of the best outcomes emerging from the problem solving process involves holding companies and corporations accountable when they deviate from the regulations in place to curb the e-waste crisis.