The Basel Action Network (BAN), an organization that first exposed the global dumping of electronic wastes in China (2002) and Africa (2005), and continues to campaign against polluting and dangerous dumping for “recycling” due to waste exports from developed countries, has launched an online whistleblowers portal. The portal is specifically designed to protect the identity of those with stories or evidence of companies violating international law as well as any relevant voluntary certifications they are party to.
“Sadly, we are finding a new wave of unscrupulous recyclers, waste managers, and brokers that seek to use the developing world as their convenient dumping grounds in order to maximize profits at the expense of people and the planet. Equally distressing is finding out how many respectable companies are willing to ignore their corporate responsibility and make use of such unethical service providers,” said Hayley Palmer, chief operating officer at BAN. “Today, we have created a pathway for individuals privy to this disgrace, and willing to choose integrity.”
The announcement follows what BAN describes as a new “surge of greed and exploitation” sending a “plastic and e-waste tsunami to Southeast Asia. BAN recently alerted the Malaysian government, prompted by BAN’s having alerted the government of ships carrying e-waste from the U.S., resulting in the seizure of 106 containers of the contraband. Meanwhile, the Malaysian government raided two more e-waste processing factories discovered in palm plantations north of Penang. One factory was reported to be turning the plastic from the electronics into fish food pellets.
The Basel Convention — an international treaty that the U.S. has failed to ratify, has prohibited the export of hazardous, including electronic, wastes from being trafficked from developed to developing countries, and requires strict controls on most plastic wastes leaving the country as well. BAN has created a 3rd-party audited certification program for recyclers known as e-Stewards that calls for all participants to operate as if they were located in a country that has ratified the Basel Convention. They urge consumers and businesses alike to make use of e-Stewards Certified companies to avoid “fake recyclers.” And today with the latest announcement, they urge conscientious actors in the industry to report suspect waste trade and management.
“It’s stunning how companies can claim on the one hand that they project the highest standards of environment, social impact and governance (ESG), but with the other sweep their toxic, problematic wastes out the back door to substandard operations, cloaked by the opaque world of international shipping,” said Jim Puckett, executive director and founder of Basel Action Network. “With this program we aim to place this shame of the recycling industry, under a bright spotlight. It has to stop.”