Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit Update

Earth Week Event:  Fair Trade Recycling (of "e-Waste") Summit in Vermont

copyright robin ingenthron
There is considerable interest in our April 16 Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit, a free conference paid for by Middlebury College, Memorial University, and WR3A.   In fact, we are out of seats already.

The good news is that the Summit will be broadcast via Live Streaming throughout the day.  We are preparing a number of videos to fill the gaps between sessions.

I'll post a list of speakers and presenters and panelists this week.  We are immensely honored at the number of Guests who have chosen to attend in person rather than via the Skype options offered to the presenters.

Fair Trade Recycling Summit Nations Represented (confirmed participation to date)
  • Angola * Burkina Faso * Canada * China * Egypt * Holland  * Indonesia
  • Malaysia * Mexico *  Peru *  Switzerland * USA
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The Event will also include a live tour of my Middlebury Vermont company, American Retroworks Inc. dba Good Point Recycling, open to all our clients and friends in New England (who requested seating but found us sold out).

Can a Sustainable E-Waste Export regime replace lesser quality computers with better quality?  Is transparent and regulated trade better than bans and boycotts?  Hear the first results from the $479,000 grant to Memorial University, University C.P. Peru, and University Southern California.   Meet MIT researchers and hear from University of Amsterdam, University Paul Cezanne Marseilles, University of Guadalajara Mexico, and Thunderbird U (AZ).

The Ban on Exports began about ten years ago in California.   Africa, Asia and Latin Americans still wanted to buy about 50% of the used CRTs then (especially the smaller monitors, less so the big TVs).   California refused to allow it.   Result?  See NYT (Giant Toxic Piles) today.  By 

Universities and Colleges were the cradle for solutions like Fair Trade Coffee and Kiva.org.    They have thousands of international students from the countries Fair Trade Recycling members serve.   The FT system says to donate or discount the sales in return for better monitoring and more sustainable practices.

Come and hear the enthusiasm from African, Latin American, and Asian "e-waste" importers with your own eyes and ears.   Hear success stories from non-profit organizations like IFIXIT.org, TechSoupGlobal.org, PCRR.org, WorldComputerExchange.org, CCLAC.org, and CACRC.com.  Here from experts like Andrea Boron of USITC (just released study on USA used electronics exports), Katharina Kummer (outgoing Exec Director of Basel Convention Secretariat), Resolv.org Sustainable Mining experts, author Adam Minter, Lynn Rubinstein of NERC.org, Michael Durfor of NRRA.net, ISRI.org, and experts in the field.

Put your college or university's sustainability program on the map and register for the online broadcast via our Facebook Events Page.

Was the battle against internet by non-democratic governments an unintentional consequenceof the USA's war  against manual disassembly of electronics?  Export Bans may not be the solutions they were promised to be ten years ago.  Now we know that most Chinese "e-waste" is generated in China, and most African and South American used goods imports are good.  Can we use the value of recycling to create market incentives for sustainability?   

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