Following our press release the morning of 26 May, EarthECycle’s Jeff Nixon is reported to be stating the following:

1. That all of the exports were tested equipment going for reuse:

We can say with a great deal of certainty that this is not likely to have been possible. First, there is no indication that EEC had testing, refurbishment, and data-wiping work stations for preparing equipment for the reuse market. Second, it would take a minimum of 30 minutes per machine to test each device, even if they had the trained technicians, as well as the correct software, testing, and refurbishing set up, and there was simply no time to do that for the massive amounts of equipment coming in. Third, in the industry if somebody goes to all of the trouble to test something for reuse sale, they can command a much higher price but then the shipment must be properly packaged to protect each device for reuse. CRTs exported for reuse are normally exported on pallets and shrink-wrapped to avoid any shifting and breakage in transit. Our photographs reveal this to not have been the case. Further corroboration of the situation can be gained by calling Mr. Popichak of the Environmental Protection Department of Pennsylvania at 412-442-4160. Mr. Popichak visited at least one of the warehouses to determine whether the company needed a processing permit.

2. That Mr. Nixon contacted BAN asking for our help:

Mr. Nixon did indeed send emails to the BAN office after his events in Pittsburgh and spoke with BAN office manager Ms. Yuka Takamiya. He inquired about various e-waste technologies and made references to a large national collection event he was planning with a large sponsor which he was hoping to accomplish in some way with Ban as partners. BAN does not partner with any recycler that has not agreed to meet our e-Steward’s Pledge criteria and Mr. Nixon never asked to be part of our e-Stewards program. For this reason we did not take the overtures seriously. We responded by inquiring more about his national collection event. We did not receive any concrete information about it.

3. That BAN is trying to “corner the market” with their e-Steward program and denounce all others:

Our e-Steward program was created to provide solutions in lieu of the US federal government doing anything to stop e-Waste exports. We turned to the recycling community and asked the leaders to step up and refuse to export toxic e-waste, use prison labor or dump toxic e-waste in landfills or incinerators. This group, originally known as the Pledgers (Electronic Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship), is now known as the e-Stewards and we have over 30 companies with about 100 locations on board that have agreed to meet our standard in the Recycler’s Pledge. We are also transforming the Pledge program into an independently audited and accredited certification program. The e-Stewards Certification Program is described in an online brochure at www.e-stewards.org. Once the certification program is available in early 2010, recyclers and refurbishers must adhere to our rigorous standard, hire 3rd Party auditors that are trained under a training program that we help develop, and approved by e-Stewards Certifying Bodies which are in turn accredited by ANAB, the premier national accreditation body. As there are so many bad actor “recyclers” out there, we are absolutely trying to promote our e-Steward partners. The complaint of Mr. Nixon is akin to complaining that the fair-trade coffee movement is trying to prevent consumers from buying unfair-trade coffee.