Some market sources have questioned the Basel Action Network (BAN) move to de-certify lntercon Solutions Inc., citing a previous incident involving Electronic Recyclers International Inc. (ERI)-one of its e-Stewards certification founders.
BAN did not de-certify ERI when it was revealed last year that it sold electronic waste to a Los Angeles exporter who shipped the material to Hong Kong in 2007 and 2008 because its investigations showed that ERI had ceased those practices in 2008 and changed its business model.
“While the export issue is of critical importance to BAN and the reform of the electronics recycling industry, we do not have a one-strike-you-are-out policy, even for this very serious violation,” BAN said in November when it decided to take no action against ERI.
Seven months later, BAN apparently adopted a different approach with its decertification of lntercon Solutions for the alleged shipment of two ocean containers carrying hazardous electronic waste to Hong Kong.
One market source said the move had shocked him. “A year ago, BAN let ERI off the hook with a mere slap on the wrist. Now, for a very similar alleged offense, they’ve removed certification. It appears to be a guilty-until-proven innocent action,” he said.
BAN executive director Jim Puckett insisted, however, that the right action was taken. “There are some differences between the two incidents. ERI had stopped doing it for a while. People believe we made a mistake with the way we responded to ERI’s case and that could be true, but I relied on information I had at the time. We’re not perfect and can only get perfect as we go on,” he told AMM. “In the case of lntercon Solutions, the violations are so egregious we decided to suspend their (e-Stewards) license for two years.”
While it was fair to question why BAN adopted different approaches to ERI and lntercon Solutions on similar cases of exports to Hong Kong, the circumstances were different, ERI co-founder, chairman and chief executive John Shegerian told AMM.
His company had taken action without any intervention from BAN, Shegerian said. “The difference is, without anyone being involved … before BAN or any other organization came to us we cut off the guy we were dealing with. We started asking him more and more questions, as transparency was needed in the industry, and he became non-responsive so we cut him off ourselves. It was a onetime experience with a certain vendor.”
Shegerian, who entered the electronics recycling market in 2005, said the incident was part of his learning process. “When I got into the business from the technology world, I ended up with a load of copper, aluminum and other material that I would sell to someone, who sold it forward, who in turn sold it forward and who I learned later eventually sold it to China. As you get bigger, you learn better and big smelters approach you, so we learned along the way.”
Shegerian said the fact that Alcoa Inc. and LS-Nikko Copper Inc. had conducted detailed audits before acquiring minority stakes in his company was evidence that ERI has long since changed its practices.