space Press Releases, News Stories

RT Online

SEATTLE, WA 12 August 2002 -- Jim Puckett, who helped document the unsafe handling of electronic scrap in China, is urging recyclers to contact the U.S. EPA to close what he calls an “export loophole” in a proposed cathode ray tube (CRT) recycling rule.

Puckett, who is coordinator of Basel Action Network, Seattle, is e-mailing recyclers and environmentalists asking them to contact the EPA this week. “It is certain that if this rule does succeed in increasing the amount of CRTs being recycled while at the same time refuses to close the export loophole, it will mean even more CRTs will be collected, and thus more will be subsequently exported offshore to Asia,” he writes.

According to Puckett, the U.S. EPA’s proposed rule may help de-regulate electronic scrap handling regulations for domestic recyclers, but it will also make it easier for unscrupulous exporters to obtain material and send it to be unsafely processed in China. “We must in unison call for the EPA to close the export loophole that allows absolutely no controls once somebody—anybody—claims they intend to recycle the material, anywhere in any manner.”

Puckett says the restriction-free exporting of scrap CRTs violates existing Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations and Universal Waste Rules. “At the very least, U.S. exporters of CRTs, which are known hazardous wastes, must get the consent of the receiving country prior to export, says Puckett.

The Basel Action Network produced a video with extensive footage of illegitimate Chinese electronics recycling operations that contaminated village water sources and exposed workers to harmful substances, including lead and heavy metals.

Puckett is urging those interested in commenting on the proposed rule, referred to as Docket # F-2002-CRTP-FFFF, to contact the U.S. EPA with their concerns at rcra-docket@epa.gov. Monday, August 12, 2002