E-waste recycler confronts illegal export claim raised by BAN

By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)

June 24, 2016 07:51:53 AM

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): IMS Electronics Recycling, Inc. has issued a press release challenging the claims made by the Seattle-based charitable organization- Basel Action Network (BAN) that three companies including them had illegally exported deadly electronic waste to China.

Earlier, BAN had accused that three companies- Interconnection, EWC Group Inc., and IMS Electronics Recycling were involved in the illegal act of shipping e-waste out of the country. The agency had stated that six out of the 14 electronic waste items in which GPS trackers were placed had been shipped overseas. In specific, the studies had found that the IMS’s Poway, CA facility has shipped a non-working printer directly to China.

However, IMS clarified that the mentioned device was dropped off at the Poway facility on June 25th last year. It was shipped to the Port of Long Beach after two days. By July 25th, the printer was located at the port of Hong Kong. The shredder output data indicates that between June 25th and 26th, a total of 86,926 pounds of printers were shredded. The bill of lading data shows that 42 gaylords of shredded plastics were sold to a renowned plastic broker-Ekman Recycling. These materials were later imported to Hong Kong in Cosco Development vessel by Kwong Cheong. The shipping details mention the plastic mill as MCB Equipment Co, who is a licensed importer of restricted solid waste. The IMS press release claims that the BAN’s GPS tracking device continued to transmit signal from within the plastic scrap.

Meantime, BAN refuted the claim saying that the tracking device is unlikely to survive the shredding process. It recollected that Total Reclaim had also provided the same explanation when charges were raised against them. The tracking system by BAN had earlier found that a television from the recycler’s facility had landed at a Hong Kong junk yard. Although the company turned down the allegations initially, it had to admit that it had illegally exported hazardous waste to Hong Kong.

The company co-owners Craig Lorch and Jeff Zirkle admitted that turbulent and uncertain market conditions had forced them to indulge in the illegal act. The sharp drop in prices of recycled commodities such as metals and plastics had made the company compromise on its principles, they added. In a public statement, Total Reclaim had pledged to do everything possible to re-earn the trust of customers and the industry. Further, it confirmed that all exports of e-waste for recycling have been ended and that it has started working with a third party auditor to conduct new inspection of all its facilities in order to ensure full compliance with the E-cycle Washington and E-cycle Oregon programs.

In a bid to track the e-waste from recycling locations, BAN placed cell-phone sized GPS tracker devices to almost 200 non-functioning printers and monitors and dropped them at various locations within the US during the second half of 2015. The organization has been tracking these devices since then. The agency had recently come out with the alarming information that majority of the tracked e-waste had landed up in recycling yards in Hong Kong which use primitive methods of destruction and recovery.

About IMS Electronics Recycling, Inc.

Established in 2005, IMS has invested over 8 million in state-of-the-art shredding equipment across its facilities. It claims to have processed over 400 million pounds of electronics until now. Currently, IMS has four facilities-Poway, CA; Vancouver, WA; Columbus, OH; and Atalanta, GA and employs nearly 200 people.