For Immediate Release
GPS Trackers Reveal More Canadian e-Waste Exported to  Developing Countries 
Call for Canada to Adopt Basel Export Ban Amendment
October 10, 2018. Seattle, WA.  The global waste watchdog group Basel Action Network (BAN) released its findings today of a year-long study that involved placing GPS trackers hidden inside of 43 pieces of computing equipment and then, mimicking the expected actions of Canadian consumers, handing them over to official collection depots and processors across Canada. BAN then monitored the devices, tracking some of them offshore to Asia.
 
The BAN study, entitled "Illegal Export of e-Waste from Canada: A Story as Told by GPS Trackers" found that 7 (16%) of the devices were exported in what are likely to be illegal shipments. Four of the devices were exported to developing countries (Pakistan and Hong Kong) in likely violation of the Basel Convention to which Canada is a party. Three of the exported devices were handled by one Canadian recycler, the Electronics Recycling Association (ERA).
 
"The exports we found should have never happened," said Jim Puckett, BAN's founder, and Executive Director. "This discovery could represent 116,000 metric tonnes per year if we extrapolate the results. It is imperative therefore that the Canadian Government conduct a full investigation based on our findings and begin to more credibly enforce the Basel Convention."

Broken and dumped cathode ray tube (CRT) glass in the Abbas Computer Market in Peshawar, Pakistan where BAN tracked Canadian electronic waste and where more Canadian e-waste was found.
Copyright BAN, 2018.

BAN followed the GPS signals to Hong Kong and Pakistan. In the infamous Hong Kong New Territories, the trackers led the investigative team to areas where BAN had previously seen workers breaking the equipment down without protection to prevent toxic mercury from LCD backlights or toxic toner dust from being inhaled. This time the sites were not operational, and the few inside would not allow our team through their gates, but by putting drones aloft and by looking through gaps in the fence line, large amounts of e-waste was seen on site. In Pakistan our investigative team found a used computer market where smashed cathode ray tube glass, LCDs including mercury lamps, and circuit boards were scattered in heaps -- all evidencing crude and harmful dismantling releasing toxic materials, to harm human health and environment.
 
As a major step towards a solution, BAN urges adoption of the Basel Ban Amendment, which Canada has long opposed. This agreement, put in place by an initiative of the developing and European countries, forbids the export of hazardous waste for any reason from developed to developing countries. The Ban Amendment lacks but two countries before it enters into legal force. Canada could be one of those countries.
 
"We call on Canada to join the European Union in ratifying and implementing the Basel Ban Amendment," said Puckett. "By doing this, Canada can stop using Asia as a dumping ground and instead become ambassadors of global environmental justice."
END
Documents
For more information:

Jim Puckett, Executive Director, Basel Action Network,
email: jpuckett@ban.org ,
phone: +1 (206) 652-5555

Hayley Palmer, Chief Operating Officer, Basel Action Network,
email: hayley.palmer@ban.org ,
phone: +1 (206) 652-5555
About Basel Action Network

Founded in 1997, the Basel Action Network is a 501(c)3 charitable organization of the United States, based in Seattle, WA. BAN is the world's only organization focused on confronting the global environmental justice and economic inefficiency of toxic trade and its devastating impacts. Today, BAN serves as the information clearinghouse on the subject of waste trade for journalists, academics, and the general public. Through its investigations, BAN uncovered the tragedy of hazardous electronic waste dumping in developing countries. For more information, see www.BAN.org .