Most E-Waste Exports Handled in ‘Reasonably Sound’ Facilities, EPA Says
It’s not true that more than 80 percent of electronics waste exports land in “primitive” processing facilities in developing countries, an Environmental Protection Agency official said Thursday. Most of the U.S. exports are handled by “reasonably sound” or “excellent” facilities, said the official. Also, large volumes of e-waste exported are dismantled in the U.S., he said, and a large number of “excellent” processing units are emerging in developing countries. The remarks were made on a conference call organized by state officials to which reporters were granted access on condition that identities of speakers weren’t revealed.
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Environmental groups and state regulators have charged the consumer electronics industry with exporting used products to developing countries like China and India, where toxic materials in them are processed in unsafe conditions. They have sought increased controls and standards for such exports in a federal bill that’s being weighed in Congress. Exports of e-waste will inevitably increase with the rise in collection in the U.S. as state mandates grow, the official said. That is because most reuse and recycling markets are outside the U.S. and there is strong demand in Asia for materials recovered from those products, the EPA official said.
Another factor that will drive exports is that all the CRT glass smelters in the West have been shut down and only five smelters for circuit boards exist in the OECD countries, he said. The 12 to 15 CRT smelters operate in South Korea, Malaysia, India, China and other Asian countries, he said. It’s likely that China and India would open some circuit board smelters in the near future, he said.
Under EPA rules, most e-waste is considered non- hazardous, the official said. The rules also provide several hazardous waste exemptions and exclusions for e-waste, he added. For CRTs and CRT glass, the EPA requires that exporters provide “one-time notification” if exporting for reuse, notification and consent from the importing country for recycling and no notification for export of processed CRT glass. The OECD countries have a control regime for movement of hazardous materials, most of which doesn’t apply to home electronics, he said. Only CRTs have been classified as hazardous, he said. The U.S. is not a party to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, he said. The controls under that treaty, ratified by 140 non-OECD countries, are aimed at preventing the dumping of hazardous waste in developing countries from industrialized countries.
Basel signatories can’t accept hazardous waste from the U.S. without a bilateral agreement, he said. But since the U.S. hasn’t ratified the agreement, it doesn’t police exports to those countries, he said. Basel hazardous waste “definitions” for electronics are “unclear” as are rules for e-waste recycling, repair and refurbishment, he said.