[APCPress] UK campaign against e-waste launched

[Karen Higgs]

Dear colleagues of the press - I will be forwarding two press releases 
from APC members, one in the UK and one in Uruguay, which I think many 
of you may find of direct interest. Best wishes - Karen Higgs
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NO EMBARGO


Computer Aid launches campaign for action against toxic trade
Charity petitions UK government to lead fight against e-waste


London, 22nd September 2008: The UK government must take action to 
prevent the UK’s electrical waste (e-waste) being illegally exported and 
dumped in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and China, according to 
international development charity Computer Aid International, which 
today launches a petition calling for the government to provide the 
Environment Agency with the resources to effectively police the Waste 
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.

In a statement issued today, Computer Aid calls on the UK government to 
tighten up the WEEE directive and highlights why it’s time to take 
action to prevent the UK’s hazardous waste being exported to the 
developing world.  The charity also hits out at cowboy commercial 
traders actively abusing re-use and recycling initiatives, as well as 
the computer manufacturers that shirk responsibility for their equipment 
dumped in developing countries.

Louise Richards, CEO of Computer Aid, states:
“National newspaper exposes and reports from both Greenpeace and 
Consumers International clearly demonstrate the extent of the e-waste 
problem, and serve to highlight the limitations of the current 
legislative framework for e-waste. According to Consumers International, 
in Nigeria alone more than half a million second-hand PCs arrive in 
Lagos every month, yet only one in four works.

“The Environment Agency must be provided with the resources to police 
e-waste, prosecute anyone involved in a supply chain that results in the 
dumping of e-waste and remove licences from organisations in breach of 
the WEEE legislation. It’s imperative that the government clamps down on 
fraudulent traders posing as legitimate re-use and recycling 
organisations, who are enticing unwitting UK businesses to use them for 
disposal of electrical equipment.

These traders do not declare the contents of their shipments as 
hazardous e-waste, but falsely claim consignments consist entirely of 
electrical equipment destined for productive re-use. The result? The 
waste is manually scavenged for metals, then stripped down and 
incinerated in the open air. The high volume of environmentally unsound 
e-waste is driven almost exclusively by the motive of profit, but the 
cost is borne by the environment and the children who disassemble the 
equipment.”

Computer Aid also highlights how existing legislation is failing to hold 
manufacturers to account if their products are found dumped in 
developing countries, as Tony Roberts, Founder and Director of 
International Programmes, urges producers to take responsibility for the 
products they are placing into the global market:

“Under the Producer Pays principle of the WEEE directive, producers of 
electrical equipment are responsible for funding the end of life 
recycling of equipment within the European Union, but no such 
legislation exists for the millions of electronic products sold in 
Africa, Latin America and Asia. Producers should be made to accept the 
producer pays principle on a global scale, and take responsibility for 
the safe recycling of products in developing countries. They must also 
consider the design of their products and reduce their use of hazardous 
substances in the manufacturing process, so they can be more easily 
recycled.

“Modern economic development is not possible without information and 
communication technologies, any more than it is possible without cars or 
factories, but we must put a stop to this shameful abuse of e-waste in 
the developing world.”

To date, Computer Aid has refurbished more than 130,000 PCs and laptops, 
all of which are being used to support e-learning, e-health, e-inclusion 
and e-agriculture projects in countries such as Kenya, Madagascar and 
Zambia.

Computer Aid is committed to ensuring the application of Information 
Communications Technology (ICT) is environmentally sustainable and has 
launched a research programme into low power PCs, as well as offering 
practical support and advice on capacity building for re-use and 
end-of-life recycling in Africa.

ENDS


NOTES TO EDITORS

Media contact:
Kate Solomon / Louise Andrews
Wildfire PR
Tel: 020 8339 4420
Email: computeraid at wildfirepr.co.uk

About the WEEE directive
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive came into 
UK law in January 2007, and has been in force since July 2007. It aims 
to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the 
environment, by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount 
of WEEE going to landfill. The WEEE Directive also aims to improve the 
environmental performance of businesses that manufacture, supply, use, 
recycle and recover electrical and electronic equipment.

The WEEE Directive affects producers, distributors and recyclers of 
electrical and electronic equipment - including household appliances, IT 
and telecoms equipment, audiovisual equipment (TV, video, hi-fi), 
lighting, electrical and electronic tools, toys, leisure and sports 
equipment.

About Computer Aid International (www.computeraid.org)
Computer Aid International is a registered charity (no. 1069256) and the 
world’s largest and most experienced not-for-profit supplier of 
professionally refurbished computers to developing countries.

Since it was founded in 1998, Computer Aid has provided over 130,000 PCs 
to organisations in more than 100 developing countries. Based in London, 
Computer Aid International fully tests, professionally refurbishes, 
upgrades, packs and ships Pentium 3 and Pentium 4 computers donated by 
UK companies for re-use in schools and not-for-profit organisations 
overseas.

The charity is committed to providing the highest level decommissioning 
service to its UK computer donors and to delivering the highest quality 
refurbished computers to recipient organisations overseas. PC donors in 
the UK include British Airways, Ford, Virgin, Investec, the National 
Audit Office, Royal Mint, Packard Bell and Christian Aid. PC 
distribution in developing countries is achieved through strategic 
partnerships with partners such as SchoolNet Africa, British Council, 
UN-Habitat, and the national Computers for Schools programmes of Chile, 
Kenya, Zambia and other countries.