(re) blog: dialogue with Redemtech

(re) newal at Redemtech

Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes you have to grab with both hands and hang on for dear life.

It was just about this time two years ago when the opportunity to write Green IT For Dummies came my way. Despite swearing I’d never write a book again, this book felt too important to ignore. It needed to be written and I knew that if I agreed to write it, it would get written, and so I agreed. Writing nights and weekends with a lot of help from co-authors and contributors, we had a manuscript together in several months. By April 2009, the book was in print.

Three Reasons Why Prof. Eric Williams has It Wrong About a Ban on E-waste Exports

Prof. Eric Williams, a professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University in Tempe, recently wrote an article titled Three Reasons Why a Ban on e-Waste Exports is Wrong in Discovery News. The gist of this article is:

• Given the increased use of electronics, the problem of e-waste is bound to get worse.
• But trade bans can cut jobs and push recycling to the black market.

Prof. Eric Williams' analysis is wrong in three areas. I reprint each of his faulty statements below and provide an alternative analysis.

Time to Stop Supporting Organizations That Don’t Represent the Long Term Interests of Their Members

As the debate over competing e-waste certifications continues, each side has positioned themselves into separate philosophies and business models. One has a pragmatic approach, a thought process about managing e-waste as standard metallurgical scrap metals grades. In this view, if it’s resource abundant and has commodity market value, it’s simply a question of buying and selling. The other side has a more progressive thought process, which entails controlling and accounting for e-waste toxin streams and ensuring that associated toxins don’t reach uncontrolled processes. By uncontrolled, I mean processes without safety procedures and pollution control equipment, in facilities that do not historically have enforceable regulatory environment surrounding heavy-metal melting processes. (Read Redemtech’s comparison of BAN’s e-Stewards Standard and ISRI’s R2 Standard here.)

Becoming an e-Steward for Your Native Country

I was all set to pick up from my last item and talk about what makes up the corporate computer, but last week I attended a briefing during my first-ever visit to the state of Washington, and I feel I just need to vent a little about the two new standards in this industry, R2 and e-Stewards. (Get a comparison of ISRI’s R2 standard and BAN’s e-Stewards Standard here.) I won’t mention the name of the giant software company I visited, because you can probably guess which one it might be.

Basel Action Network's E-Stewards Certification Program

Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based environmental nonprofit which has a mission to stop the illegal export of electronic waste from the United States, has just launched a new standard and certification program called e-Stewards. The new program is for electronics recyclers and companies that generate volumes of e-waste.

Peeling Back the Story of CRT Exports

One of the job functions I most enjoy is interfacing with our electronics recyclers. We communicate often, and have actually enjoyed our many e-waste conversations. One day recently, I was discussing with one of them the feasibility of CRT monitor recycling. Shortly after our discussion, he was sent a Basel Action Network (BAN) press release about the case involving nine containers of CRT display devices sent back to the U.S. by Indonesia. You’ve likely read about it: Indonesia Turns Back Illegal Shipment of E-waste from USA 'Recycler'.

Serious Good Contest: A Love Pandemic

Wow! It is gratifying to know how many people really want to help others! Is it the season, or for any reason? (I intend to find out during the next few months!)

Doing Some Serious Good

All you need is love. John Lennon sings it. Dave Matthews sings it. Redemtech sings it.

Today we launch our new relationship with Habitat for Humanity International, to change the lives of thousands of Habitat Families across the country, and eventually across the globe. Ours is a mission across the great divide that is digital.

My Personal Recession

The outcome of receding usually is bad.  Glaciers, shorelines, rainforests, gums – all bad.  On the other hand, some recessions can be a blessing, like when floodwaters recede. 

Rivers that become too swollen from their copious consumption, brim over their banks and cause vast destruction.  And then they recede leaving behind less than was there before. 

I’ve never suffered a flood thankfully, but I am imagining that the initial feeling of catastrophic loss is eventually replaced by a sense of the possibilities of a new start, realizing that our possessions are not as important as the people we love, safe and sound and near. 

Maybe we have a chance to reevaluate our flooded lives in this recession and reconsider our needs.  Maybe we should stop gorging long enough to see the lovely “slow-down” that might not just be economic. 

E-waste Exports ARE Dumping

Now that an ewaste export ban has been drafted in Congress, opponents are adding a new twist to an old argument to justify their toxic trade; they claim that THEIR ewaste exports only go to responsible recyclers in developing countries, and that such legal sales must be permitted AS A MATTER OF FREE TRADE.  This position is tantamount to asking for license to dump hazardous ewaste in jurisdictions where the locals have no recourse for the toxic exposure they suffer.