Basel Action Network e-Stewards Initiative Brings New Accountability to
E-Waste Management

The Electronic Wasteland CBS News reports that millions of electronic devices our society generates are shipped illegally from the U.S. to China where it is harming the environment and the people who salvage its valuable components. Watch 60 Minutes video › e-Stewards: Ethical Recyclers This eye-opening Basel documentary summarizes years of investigation into the dumping of e-waste overseas and exposes what really happens with the used electronics discarded by businesses today. Watch BAN video › Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground FRONTLINE/World investigates the dirty little secrets of the digital age: the dumping and dangerous recycling of e-waste across the developing world and a dangerous bi-product of our disposable culture - data fraud. Watch PBS video ›

As a leading proponent of environmentally responsible recycling and a charter signatory of the Electronic Recyclers Pledge of True Stewardship, Redemtech has worked with the Basel Action Network (BAN) in the development of the
e-Stewards Initiative. Redemtech is an e-Stewards Founder; recognized as one of the inaugural companies supporting the creation of North America’s most socially and environmentally responsible e-waste recycling certification program.

News reports from 60 Minutes and PBS FRONTLINE/World have highlighted the environmental devastation being caused by the export of huge volumes of e-waste to developing countries.

BAN was among the first organizations to highlight the scope of this problem and has advocated for change within the industry through its Electronics Recyclers Pledge of True Stewardship. The Pledge was introduced in 2002 and established clear standards for responsible handling of e-waste. However, BAN overestimated the ethics and integrity of many electronics recyclers, a number of which signed the pledge and then abandoned environmentally responsible business practices -- while continuing to use the Pledge to provide their customers with a false sense of responsibility.

Pressure from electronic manufacturers has prevented the U.S. government from enacting regulations that would prohibit e-waste export and the Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has proven incapable of enforcing the limited regulations that do exist, according to a report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

As a result, BAN has strengthened the Pledge with its e-Stewards Initiative. Built on the same principles as the Pledge, the e-Stewards Initiative adds a level of accountability through an accreditation program based on independent field auditing of business processes.

The purpose of the e-Stewards Initiative is to set appropriately rigorous, yet practical and readily achievable parameters for electronics recycling and asset management that will:

• Stop the export of toxics to developing countries,
• Keep toxics out of landfills and incinerators, and
• Track toxics all the way to final processing.

The e-Stewards Initiative accomplishes this by requiring electronic recyclers to:

• Meet the full requirements of ISO 14001;
• Meet health and safety system requirements, comparable to ISO 18001, specific to managing e-waste;
• Meet the principles in the global social accountability standard, SA 8000;
• Meet electronics recycling industry performance requirements, including:
• Strict control of exportation of hazardous electronic wastes, in conformance with the Amendment to the Basel Convention and other existing laws;
• Safe on-site handling of hazardous e-waste and other problematic components and materials, as well as workplace toxins monitoring;
• Accountability for the entire downstream recycling chain for the toxic materials;
• When data security services are offered, they must meet the NIST 800-88 Guidelines for Media Sanitization, and provide customers with indemnity;
• Clear requirements for legitimate re-use and refurbishment;
• Restrictions on disposal options for toxic materials and prohibition on use of prison and child labor;
• Minimum requirements for insurance provisions;
• Collection and reporting of data relative to the industry for benchmarking and improvement; and
• Provision of site closure plans when potentially hazardous processing technologies have been used.

e-Stewards certification is handled by The ANSI-ASQ National Association Board of the United States based on actual field audits, giving organizations a new level of confidence when choosing a responsible source for asset management and recovery.

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