Reference no: EM133676284

Assignment:

E-waste describes discarded electronic and IT devices destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal. Over 46 million tons of e-waste are produced globally each year, and the toxic and complex minerals contained in e-waste can harm people's health and the environment when absorbed into the soil or water. Improper processing of e-waste (whether it is recycled or destroyed) can lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution.

There is money to be made in recycling e-waste to recover precious metals. For example, by recycling one million cell phones, a company can recover 50 pounds of gold, 550 pounds of silver, 20 pounds of palladium, and 20,000 pounds of copper-for a total value of $2.5 million.

Between 50 percent and 80 percent of the world's e-waste is shipped to sites in China, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam-places where recycling is often not managed in an environmentally sound manner. Emissions from these recycling sites damage human health and the environment. For example, residents of Guiyu-an agglomerate of four adjoined villages in Guangdong Province, China, that is widely perceived as the largest e-waste recycling site in the world-experience high rates of digestive, neurological, respiratory, and bone problems. In fact, some 80 percent of Guiyu's children experience respiratory ailments and are considered to be at high risk of lead poisoning. Above-average miscarriage rates are also reported in the region. Wind disperses particles released by open-air burning from this site across the Pearl River Delta Region, which has a population of 45 million people, enabling toxic chemicals from e-waste to enter the soil-crop-food pathway.

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to control hazardous waste, including the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of such waste. The RCRA regulations are contained in title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) parts 239 through 282. However, due to various federal exemptions, it's legal to export almost all e-waste from the United States to developing countries provided a company obtain the country's consent to do so. The EPA even has a "prior informed consent" process for this purpose.

The United States is the only nation in the developed world that has not yet ratified the Basel Convention on hazardous waste. This is an international treaty designed to reduce the movement of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries. Because the United States has signed but not yet ratified the Basel Convention, it is technically free to ship its e-waste abroad. However, some of the countries accepting much of the e-waste from the United States, such as China and Ghana, are actually forbidden from importing such trash because they have ratified the treaty.

Dell Inc. is a multinational computer technology company and is a subsidiary of Dell Technologies, a large technology company with some 138,000 employees. Dell manufactures, sells, repairs, and supports computer peripherals, data storage devices, network switches, personal computers, and servers.

Dell Reconnect is a partnership with Goodwill that began in 2004 with the goal of offering free and responsible computer recycling. Its participants can take their used computer equipment-of any brand and in any condition-and drop them off at one of more than 2,000 participating Goodwill locations. There the staff will examine each piece of equipment to determine whether to reuse, refurbish, or recycle it. Reuse means that the device is in good working order and can be resold after being cleaned and tested by technicians. Refurbish means that a device must be upgraded or repaired before resale. Equipment that cannot be reused or refurbished is broken down securely and recycled responsibly, through Dell, so that their valuable materials can be captured and put into new products.

Dell has collected more than 6.6 million tons of e-waste since 2007-through its Reconnect program as well as through its Asset Resale and Recycling Services program for business customers. Dell's partnership with Goodwill also funds the nonprofit's work, which is focused on job creation and skills training for people facing challenges in finding employment. In addition, the reused and refurbished equipment, which is sold through Goodwill stores, provides many families with the ability to buy computer products at an affordable price.

In 2009, Dell became the first in the IT industry to ban the export of nonworking electronics and e-waste to developing countries by its employees and business partners. Dell does not permit e-waste to be exported from developed countries (member countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development or the European Union) to developing (non-OECD/EU) countries, either directly or through intermediaries.

A two-year study by the Basel Action Network (BAN), a Seattle-based environmental watchdog organization, involved placing GPS tracking devices into 200 pieces of electronic equipment destined for recycling and then tracking their whereabouts. The researchers found that instead of being recycled in the United States, roughly one-third of these devices were exported overseas. Of the 28 electronics BAN dropped off with Dell Reconnect, six went abroad-to mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand. By some definitions, each of these countries could be classified as developing.

Both Goodwill and Dell have strong reputations for social and environmental responsibility. Their joint Dell Reconnect program is based on good intentions; however, it appears that tougher policies with greater due diligence and transparency are needed when it comes to e-waste management.

Critical Thinking Questions:

1. What specific actions should Dell and Goodwill take to strengthen the Reconnect program? How can Dell monitor the large number of participants including employees and business partners at over 2,000 Goodwill locations to ensure that program functions as intended?

2. Why do you think it is that the United States, the largest generator of e-waste worldwide, is the only industrialized nation that has not yet ratified the Basal Convention?