Challenging the Chip: Labor Rights and Environmental Justice in the Global Electronics Industry

Appendix E: Electronics Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship

Appendix E Electronics Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship WE, THE SIGNING and registered recycling company, agree to uphold the following:1 I. We will not allow any hazardous E-waste2 we handle to be sent to solid waste (nonhazardous waste) landfills or incinerators for disposal or energy recovery, either directly or through intermediaries. II. Consistent with decisions of the international Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, we will not allow the export of hazardous E-waste we handle to be exported from developed to developing countries3 either directly or through intermediaries. III. We will not allow any E-waste we handle to be sent to prisons for recycling either directly or through intermediaries. IV . We assure that we have a certified, or otherwise comprehensive and comparable “environmental management system” in place and our operation meets best practices. V . We commit to ensuring that the entire recycling chain, including downstream intermediaries and recovery operations such as smelters, are meeting all applicable environmental and health regulations. Every effort will be made to only make use of those facilities (e.g., smelters), which provide the most efficient and least polluting recovery services available globally. VI. We agree to provide visible tracking of hazardous E-Waste throughout the product recycling chain. The tracking information should show the final disposition of all hazardous waste materials. If there is a concern about trade secrets, an independent auditor acceptable to parties concerned can be used to verify compliance with this pledge. VII. We agree to provide adequate assurance (e.g., bonds) to cover environmental and other costs of the closure of our facility, and additionally to provide liability insurance for accidents and incidents involving wastes under our control and ownership. Additionally we will ensure due diligence throughout the product chain. VIII. We agree to support Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs and/or legislation in order to develop viable financing mechanisms for end-of-life that provides that all legitimate electronic recycling companies have a stake in the process. IX. We further agree to support design for environment and toxics use reduction programs and/or legislation for electronic products. APPENDIX E 309 NOTES 1. Basel Action Network, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, and Computer TakeBack Campaign, August 22, 2002 (revised and officially launched, February 25, 2003). Source: www.ban.org/pledge/Electronics Recycler Pledge.pdf. For a list of signatories, see www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.html; for information about signing the pledge, see www.ban.org/pledge1.html. 2. Following best interpretation of the definitions of the Basel Convention, “hazardous electronic waste” will for the purposes of this pledge include circuit boards, cathode ray tubes (CRTs), as well as computers, monitors, peripherals, and other electronics containing circuit boards and/or CRTs. It will also include mercury and poly-chlorinated bi-phenyl (PCB) containing components, lamps, and devices. The definition of “hazardous electronic waste” will not include nonhazardous wastes such as copper unless it is contaminated with a Basel hazardous waste such as lead, cadmium, PCB, mercury, etc. The definition of “hazardous electronic waste” includes non-working materials exported for repair unless assurances exist that hazardous components (such as CRTs or circuit boards) will not be disposed of in the importing country as a result. The definition of “hazardous electronic waste” does not include working equipment and parts that are certified as working, that are not intended for disposal or recycling, but for re-use and resale. The term “hazardous e-waste” as used in this Pledge does not pertain to, nor is synonymous with any current legal U. S. definitions of “hazardous waste,” but is meant for the purposes of this Pledge only. 3. Following the definitions of the Basel Convention and its Basel Ban Amendment, developing countries are any country not belonging to either the European Union, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), or Liechtenstein. For a complete list of OECD and EU countries see www.ban.org/country status/country status.html, and find countries shaded in gray. ...