Household Hazardous Waste Collection - Boise - LocalWiki

Summary generated by cruyff8's autosummarizer of http://www.pbs.org/newshouupdates/america-e-waste-gps-tracker-tells-all-earthfix/:

High above the Pacific Ocean in a plane headed for Hong Kong, most of the passengers are fast asleep.READ MORE: The Circuit: Tracking down America’s electronic waste (via KCTS9) Puckett’s organization partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to put 200 geolocating tracking devices inside old computers, TVs and printers.“The little devices went out and spoke to us, called home regularly, saying ‘this is where I am.’” About a third of the tracked electronics went overseas — some as far as 12,000 miles.Undercover In The New Territories The next morning Puckett follows the little orange markers to a region of Hong Kong called the New Territories, a long-time agricultural area along the border with mainland China that’s shifted toward industry in recent decades. Dongxia Su and Jim Puckett peek over the fence of an e-waste scrapyard in the New Territories of Hong Kong.READ MORE: How We Did It: Reporting ‘The Circuit’ (via OPB) A worker shouts from beyond the fence and Su tells him the group is shopping for used electronics.The New Territories used to serve only as a pass-through for smuggled e-waste, Puckett said, where workers would unload shipping containers and put electronics on smaller trucks bound for mainland China.In 2002, the Basel Action Network’s Jim Puckett tests the water quality near Guiyu, China, where residents cooked electronics to extract precious metals and dumped the leftovers in a nearby river.Puckett’s documentary came out more than a decade after nearly every developed nation on the globe had ratified the Basel Convention , an international treaty to stop developed countries from dumping hazardous waste on poorer nations.“It’s still a story that needs to be told.” Over the years Puckett’s attempts to quantify and draw attention to exported electronic waste has drawn criticism from U.S.Puckett turned to GPS tracking technology as a new tool to determine just how big the e-waste export problem really might be.Photo by Katie Campbell, KCTS9/EarthFix Su talks to the workers and finds out many are migrants from mainland China, who are residing in Hong Kong without the official documents required for them to legally be there, she says.Courtesy of Cheung Choi Several fires have broken out at junkyards in the past year, including two incidents in March that emitted plumes of toxic black smoke, according to local news reports .Courtesy of Cheung Choi “When I was young, I used to drink water directly from the river,” he said through an interpreter. Hong Kong bans the import of hazardous e-waste like cathode ray tubes and flat-screens from the United States and other developed nations, according to Environmental Protection Department spokesperson Heidi Liu. Even The Most Reputable Recyclers Export Inside a quiet warehouse in the New Territories, Jim Puckett searches for clues in the clutter of electronic waste.Total Reclaim scored these big regional recycling contracts in part because it was certified by e-Stewards , a responsible-recycling certification program created by Puckett’s Basel Action Network. Electronics recyclers with e-Stewards certification can export the raw plastics and metals that come from dismantling electronics.Total Reclaim wasn’t the only leading domestic e-waste recycler that collected non-working electronics with tracking devices inside that went overseas, the Basel Action Network concluded through its investigation.BAN dropped off 28 tracked electronics at participating Goodwill locations and determined that six of the tracking devices went abroad — to Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and Thailand.A tracking device planted in a computer dropped off at a Dell Reconnect location led Puckett here, an abandoned field strewn with LCD monitors, CRT monitors, camcorders and keyboards.“Goodwill Industries International is committed to understanding new insights into the e-cycling space from the final report,” the statement said, and “encourages Goodwill organizations participating in the Dell Reconnect program to evaluate the continuation of their contracts with Dell” and to take steps to ensure that electronics are responsibly recycled.“It is clear that these certifications need to be better enforced and we intend to do just that.” On Thursday, the Basel Action Network announced that Total Reclaim was suspended from the e-Stewards program for two years.“We take responsibility for that and the mistakes we’ve made.” Both the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Washington Department of Ecology have launched investigations into whether Total Reclaim violated their state hazardous waste laws.Bear Market For Commodities Prices for many commodities found in e-waste, a major source of revenue for electronics recyclers, have plunged in the past year.Photo by Ken Christensen, KCTS9/EarthFix In a bear market for commodities, exporting waste is more profitable than processing it domestically.“People are getting paid to recycle these materials through government programs and then are exporting to China and Africa.” Neu is the CEO of Hugo Neu, a New York-based e-waste recycler and e-Steward, that just months ago decided to shift its business model away from recycling.The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries has opposed versions of those bills, arguing that these types of laws on exports would harm the recycling sector and are unnecessary because the industry is well-regulated by existing federal and state laws.“There’s definitely not enough perp walks being done,” said John Shegerian, chief executive of Electronics Recycling International, the largest e-waste recycling firm in the country.Late last year, the Chinese government ordered thousands of unregulated businesses in Guiyu to move into a newly built industrial park, an effort to clean up the industry.The Environmental Protection Agency has a rule that aims to prevent export of CRT monitors, the boxy computer and TV monitors that were have been out of production since flat-screen technology drove them out of the market nearly a decade ago.EarthFix is a public media project of Oregon Public Broadcasting and Boise State Public Radio, Idaho Public Television, KCTS 9 Seattle, KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, Northwest Public Radio and Television, Southern Oregon Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Summary generated by cruyff8's autosummarizer of http://www.pbs.org/newshouupdates/america-e-waste-gps-tracker-tells-all-earthfix/:

High above the Pacific Ocean in a plane headed for Hong Kong, most of the passengers are fast asleep.READ MORE: The Circuit: Tracking down America’s electronic waste (via KCTS9) Puckett’s organization partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to put 200 geolocating tracking devices inside old computers, TVs and printers.“The little devices went out and spoke to us, called home regularly, saying ‘this is where I am.’” About a third of the tracked electronics went overseas — some as far as 12,000 miles.Undercover In The New Territories The next morning Puckett follows the little orange markers to a region of Hong Kong called the New Territories, a long-time agricultural area along the border with mainland China that’s shifted toward industry in recent decades. Dongxia Su and Jim Puckett peek over the fence of an e-waste scrapyard in the New Territories of Hong Kong.READ MORE: How We Did It: Reporting ‘The Circuit’ (via OPB) A worker shouts from beyond the fence and Su tells him the group is shopping for used electronics.The New Territories used to serve only as a pass-through for smuggled e-waste, Puckett said, where workers would unload shipping containers and put electronics on smaller trucks bound for mainland China.In 2002, the Basel Action Network’s Jim Puckett tests the water quality near Guiyu, China, where residents cooked electronics to extract precious metals and dumped the leftovers in a nearby river. Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia .” It captured the crude recycling methods taking place in Guiyu, a cluster of villages in southeastern China that has since become known as the world’s biggest graveyard for America’s electronic junk.“It’s still a story that needs to be told.” Over the years Puckett’s attempts to quantify and draw attention to exported electronic waste has drawn criticism from U.S.While the International Trade Commission — through a survey of recyclers — said in 2013 that a mere 0.13 percent of all used electronics collected in the U.S.You see this kind of global e-waste flow that actually almost covered the whole planet.” Unlicensed And Unregulated A pile of printer parts dusted with toners like carbon black, a possible carcinogen known to cause respiratory problems.“There are no occupational laws that are going to protect them.” That doesn’t surprise Jackson Lau, director of the Hong Kong Recycle Materials and Reproduction Business General Association.Courtesy of Cheung Choi Several fires have broken out at junkyards in the past year, including two incidents in March that emitted plumes of toxic black smoke, according to local news reports . Cheung Kwai Choi, a farmer who has lived in the region for a half-century, said the e-waste junkyards and fires have multiplied in recent years. Hong Kong bans the import of hazardous e-waste like cathode ray tubes and flat-screens from the United States and other developed nations, according to Environmental Protection Department spokesperson Heidi Liu. Even The Most Reputable Recyclers Export Inside a quiet warehouse in the New Territories, Jim Puckett searches for clues in the clutter of electronic waste.Total Reclaim scored these big regional recycling contracts in part because it was certified by e-Stewards , a responsible-recycling certification program created by Puckett’s Basel Action Network.Then they went to the Port of Seattle, across the Pacific Ocean to the Port of Hong Kong and ultimately to two junkyards in the New Territories.Total Reclaim wasn’t the only leading domestic e-waste recycler that collected non-working electronics with tracking devices inside that went overseas, the Basel Action Network concluded through its investigation.BAN dropped off 28 tracked electronics at participating Goodwill locations and determined that six of the tracking devices went abroad — to Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and Thailand.A tracking device planted in a computer dropped off at a Dell Reconnect location led Puckett here, an abandoned field strewn with LCD monitors, CRT monitors, camcorders and keyboards.“Goodwill Industries International is committed to understanding new insights into the e-cycling space from the final report,” the statement said, and “encourages Goodwill organizations participating in the Dell Reconnect program to evaluate the continuation of their contracts with Dell” and to take steps to ensure that electronics are responsibly recycled.“It is clear that these certifications need to be better enforced and we intend to do just that.” On Thursday, the Basel Action Network announced that Total Reclaim was suspended from the e-Stewards program for two years.“We take responsibility for that and the mistakes we’ve made.” Both the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Washington Department of Ecology have launched investigations into whether Total Reclaim violated their state hazardous waste laws.Bear Market For Commodities Prices for many commodities found in e-waste, a major source of revenue for electronics recyclers, have plunged in the past year.Photo by Ken Christensen, KCTS9/EarthFix In a bear market for commodities, exporting waste is more profitable than processing it domestically.“People are getting paid to recycle these materials through government programs and then are exporting to China and Africa.” Neu is the CEO of Hugo Neu, a New York-based e-waste recycler and e-Steward, that just months ago decided to shift its business model away from recycling.The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries has opposed versions of those bills, arguing that these types of laws on exports would harm the recycling sector and are unnecessary because the industry is well-regulated by existing federal and state laws.“There’s definitely not enough perp walks being done,” said John Shegerian, chief executive of Electronics Recycling International, the largest e-waste recycling firm in the country.Late last year, the Chinese government ordered thousands of unregulated businesses in Guiyu to move into a newly built industrial park, an effort to clean up the industry.The Environmental Protection Agency has a rule that aims to prevent export of CRT monitors, the boxy computer and TV monitors that were have been out of production since flat-screen technology drove them out of the market nearly a decade ago.EarthFix is a public media project of Oregon Public Broadcasting and Boise State Public Radio, Idaho Public Television, KCTS 9 Seattle, KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, Northwest Public Radio and Television, Southern Oregon Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Summary generated by cruyff8's autosummarizer of http://www.pbs.org/newshouupdates/america-e-waste-gps-tracker-tells-all-earthfix/:

High above the Pacific Ocean in a plane headed for Hong Kong, most of the passengers are fast asleep.READ MORE: The Circuit: Tracking down America’s electronic waste (via KCTS9) Puckett’s organization partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to put 200 geolocating tracking devices inside old computers, TVs and printers.“The little devices went out and spoke to us, called home regularly, saying ‘this is where I am.’” About a third of the tracked electronics went overseas — some as far as 12,000 miles.Undercover In The New Territories The next morning Puckett follows the little orange markers to a region of Hong Kong called the New Territories, a long-time agricultural area along the border with mainland China that’s shifted toward industry in recent decades. Dongxia Su and Jim Puckett peek over the fence of an e-waste scrapyard in the New Territories of Hong Kong.READ MORE: How We Did It: Reporting ‘The Circuit’ (via OPB) A worker shouts from beyond the fence and Su tells him the group is shopping for used electronics.The New Territories used to serve only as a pass-through for smuggled e-waste, Puckett said, where workers would unload shipping containers and put electronics on smaller trucks bound for mainland China.In 2002, the Basel Action Network’s Jim Puckett tests the water quality near Guiyu, China, where residents cooked electronics to extract precious metals and dumped the leftovers in a nearby river.Puckett’s documentary came out more than a decade after nearly every developed nation on the globe had ratified the Basel Convention , an international treaty to stop developed countries from dumping hazardous waste on poorer nations.“It’s still a story that needs to be told.” Over the years Puckett’s attempts to quantify and draw attention to exported electronic waste has drawn criticism from U.S.Puckett turned to GPS tracking technology as a new tool to determine just how big the e-waste export problem really might be.Photo by Katie Campbell, KCTS9/EarthFix Su talks to the workers and finds out many are migrants from mainland China, who are residing in Hong Kong without the official documents required for them to legally be there, she says.Courtesy of Cheung Choi Several fires have broken out at junkyards in the past year, including two incidents in March that emitted plumes of toxic black smoke, according to local news reports .Courtesy of Cheung Choi “When I was young, I used to drink water directly from the river,” he said through an interpreter. Hong Kong bans the import of hazardous e-waste like cathode ray tubes and flat-screens from the United States and other developed nations, according to Environmental Protection Department spokesperson Heidi Liu. Even The Most Reputable Recyclers Export Inside a quiet warehouse in the New Territories, Jim Puckett searches for clues in the clutter of electronic waste.Total Reclaim scored these big regional recycling contracts in part because it was certified by e-Stewards , a responsible-recycling certification program created by Puckett’s Basel Action Network. Electronics recyclers with e-Stewards certification can export the raw plastics and metals that come from dismantling electronics.Total Reclaim wasn’t the only leading domestic e-waste recycler that collected non-working electronics with tracking devices inside that went overseas, the Basel Action Network concluded through its investigation.BAN dropped off 28 tracked electronics at participating Goodwill locations and determined that six of the tracking devices went abroad — to Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and Thailand.A tracking device planted in a computer dropped off at a Dell Reconnect location led Puckett here, an abandoned field strewn with LCD monitors, CRT monitors, camcorders and keyboards.“Goodwill Industries International is committed to understanding new insights into the e-cycling space from the final report,” the statement said, and “encourages Goodwill organizations participating in the Dell Reconnect program to evaluate the continuation of their contracts with Dell” and to take steps to ensure that electronics are responsibly recycled.“It is clear that these certifications need to be better enforced and we intend to do just that.” On Thursday, the Basel Action Network announced that Total Reclaim was suspended from the e-Stewards program for two years.“We take responsibility for that and the mistakes we’ve made.” Both the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Washington Department of Ecology have launched investigations into whether Total Reclaim violated their state hazardous waste laws.Bear Market For Commodities Prices for many commodities found in e-waste, a major source of revenue for electronics recyclers, have plunged in the past year.Photo by Ken Christensen, KCTS9/EarthFix In a bear market for commodities, exporting waste is more profitable than processing it domestically.“People are getting paid to recycle these materials through government programs and then are exporting to China and Africa.” Neu is the CEO of Hugo Neu, a New York-based e-waste recycler and e-Steward, that just months ago decided to shift its business model away from recycling.The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries has opposed versions of those bills, arguing that these types of laws on exports would harm the recycling sector and are unnecessary because the industry is well-regulated by existing federal and state laws.“There’s definitely not enough perp walks being done,” said John Shegerian, chief executive of Electronics Recycling International, the largest e-waste recycling firm in the country.Late last year, the Chinese government ordered thousands of unregulated businesses in Guiyu to move into a newly built industrial park, an effort to clean up the industry.The Environmental Protection Agency has a rule that aims to prevent export of CRT monitors, the boxy computer and TV monitors that were have been out of production since flat-screen technology drove them out of the market nearly a decade ago.EarthFix is a public media project of Oregon Public Broadcasting and Boise State Public Radio, Idaho Public Television, KCTS 9 Seattle, KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio, Northwest Public Radio and Television, Southern Oregon Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.