Busted! Government Raids Suspected E-Waste Exporter

This article is a follow up to the piece we ran last month, and it beat out some other very interesting topics because it seems we owe it to some government agencies to let people know when they try to live up to their mandate. Along with a number of other online publications, we responded with concern and consternation to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) probe indicating that certain companies are wantonly disregarding federal regulations and international treaties regarding the export of toxic chemicals in old computer displays and television sets. Particularly distressing in this report was the suggestion that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was doing little or nothing of consequence to enforce the law and thereby emboldening those who stood to profit by breaking it.

On October 15 the publication Business Week ran a detailed expose, prompted in large part by this same GAO report. Their investigative reporters identified some of the worst offenders only hinted at in the article and followed the trail of discarded electronics components leading to and from their offices. The day after the article appeared Business Week reported that investigators from the EPA, accompanied by State Troopers raided the headquarters of the company most conspicuous in the Business Week article. The point being, of course, that somebody is doing something about it after all. Whether the EPA was goaded into action by the GAO report and subsequent media fallout, or whether one accepts at face value its assertion that it has focused on educating e-waste recyclers … and now is stepping up enforcement, it is noteworthy that the government regulators appear to be getting down to the business of regulating. The company in question, whom we have not named here, naturally denies any wrongdoing. On the record their largest institutional clients are also insisting that there is no reason to believe the goods are not being processed properly and in their entirety at the home office of the company in question. Whatever the facts are determined to be, it is truly shocking that until the EPA raid representatives of this company thought nothing of openly and publicly proclaiming to potential overseas buyers that they had shipping containers full of controlled goods available for immediate cash purchase. As one individual commented on the October 16 article describing the raid “I’ve had EPA audits too, they’ve never shown up with state police and a caravan of dark vans following!” Business Week article detailing the raid is here Reuse…Save up to 90% off list price and save the environment too when you shop at UsedCisco.com By Steven Adams Product Content Manager for UsedCisco.com Sign up to receive the Green Your Network blog via email

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