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Waste & Recycling September 02, 2016 12:30:18 PM

Total Reclaim fined around half million dollars for illegal exports of hazardous e-waste

Paul Ploumis
ScrapMonster Author
A fine of $444,000 was issued by the Washington Department of Ecology for alleged shipments of discarded electronic waste out of the country.

Total Reclaim  fined around half million dollars for illegal exports of hazardous e-waste

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Seattle-based leading electronics recycler Total Reclaim has been fined for illegal shipments of hazardous electronic waste. A fine of $444,000 was issued by the Washington Department of Ecology for alleged shipments of discarded electronic waste out of the country. The company now has 30 days to pay the fine or file an appeal before the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board. The paid fine will be credited to state general fund.

An official belonging to the Department of Ecology stated that the company, being a leader in electronics recycling, was well aware of the wrongdoing. He termed the act as blatant violation of the public trust. It could not be assumed that Total Reclaim was unaware of the state laws by which electronics recyclers are required to ensure that all discarded e-waste is either recycled properly by them or is legitimately recycled elsewhere.

Meantime, Total Reclaim released a statement saying that the company would dispute the penalty. It noted that the company had co-operated fully with the agency ever since the matter was reported during the month of May this year. According to the statement, the company had already stopped exports even before the Ecology inquiry.

The company also claimed that it has undertaken several improvement measures over the past several months to streamline its operations. It had conducted inspection of its facilities by an independent third party auditor in order to ensure that the operations meet the required standards as per law. It has also successfully designed and constructed a new equipment for separation of fluorescent tubes contained in televisions and computer monitors. In addition, it empowered its proprietary ‘Smasher’ machine to capture mercury liberated during mechanical recycling of electronic devices.

In a bid to track the e-waste from recycling locations, BAN had conducted an investigation by placing cell-phone sized GPS tracker devices to almost 200 non-functioning printers and monitors and dropping 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 where they were handled using totally unethical and primitive dismantling techniques.

Total Reclaim had later admitted that it had been indulged in illegal shipment of flat screens to Hong Kong for more than seven years. The company co-owners Craig Lorch and Jeff Zirkle had noted that sharp drop in prices of recycled commodities such as metals and plastics made the company compromise on its principles and indulge in business operations that were in violation to state laws.

About Total Reclaim

Total Reclaim is the leading recycler of computers and electronics in the Pacific Northwest. Total Reclaim is approved as a Collector, a Transporter and a Preferred Processor for Washington’s E-Cycles Electronics Recycling Program. It also works with all three of the manufacturer stewardship programs operating under the Oregon E-Cycles program.

 

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