10 Year Anniversary: Middlebury College / WR3A Fair Trade Recycling Summit of 2013

Ten years ago, we had speakers from ISRI, EPA, Basel Convention, and attendees from Panasonic, Tradeloop, and many others gather at Middlebury College for a two-day session on the REALITY of the e-waste trade.  Professors from Middlebury, Memorial University, MIT met to discuss the "poverty porn" ramifications on the so-called "informal sector". The evening dinners and roundtable discussions included the former attorney general of Burkina Faso, a young Emmanuel Nyalete (future public speaker in USA and Europe representing Ghana's Tech Sector), Katharina Kummer-Peiry, Eric Harris, Adam Minter, Kyle Wiens, and others (see below).

We enjoyed coverage from USA Today, VT Digger, Vermont Public Radio, and several college and university papers.

See more coverage here.

Footnote - the evening re-broadcast of the Vermont Edition was canceled due to coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing that afternoon.

USA Today

This summit was inspired by Fair Trade Recycling's "California Compromise" effort of 2010 to partner with Basel Action Network to get California to supply our fair trade recycling partner in Penang, Malaysia.   When that broke down, it led to my most-read blog of the decade (10k+ views), the "California Compromise Sopranos E-Waste Episode".

Middlebury, Vt. – Vermont-based Fair Trade Recycling—an association of international electronics recycling professionals—today announced the speakers for its upcoming April 16th international summit at Middlebury College.

The event includes importers of recycled electronic products and policy experts from African, Asian, and Latin American and is hosted by Middlebury College. The event is free and open to the public and will highlight the environmental and economic benefits of socially responsible e-waste recycling practices—an export market the association says could grow from $10 Billion to $55 billion by 2015 as responsible reuse systems expand.

Keynote Speakers and Panelists:
• Andrea Boron, US International Trade Commission, Used Electronics Exports (February 2013)
• Adam Minter, Author, “Junkyard Planet,” Bloomberg News
• Katharina Kummer Peiry, EcoConsult (Geneva, Switzerland). Former Executive Secretary, Basel Convention Secretariat 2007-12. Former UNEP staff, Nairobi Kenya
• Eric Harris, Assoc. Counsel/Dir. Of Govt. & Intl. Affairs, ISRI, Washington, DC
• Josh Lepawsky, Geography, Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada (Chief researcher, Fair Trade Recycling research grant)
• Ramzy Kahhat, Professor of Engineering, University Pontifica Catholic de Peru (FTR Grant)
• Stephen D’Esposito, President, and Juliana Birkhoff, Vice President of Collaborative Practice, RESOLVE (resolv.org)
• Jean Frederic Somda, International Attorney, former Prosecutor General of Burkina Faso
• Martijn Van Engelen, Aatelco CEO, founder of Fair Trade Electronics in Holland
• Reed Miller, Researcher, MIT
• Lynn Rubenstein, Exec Director, NERC.org, Board Member, R2 Solutions

Other Participants:
• Jinex Mindevil, CEO, Ace TV, Lima Peru
• Ruediger Kuehr, United Nations University, Inst for Sustainability, Germany
• Michael Durfor, Executive Director, NRRA, Epsom, New Hampshire
• Colin Davis, VP, WR3A (Fair Trade Recycling), Middlebury, Vermont
• Kyle Wiens, CEO, IFIXIT, producer of documentary “The Fixers”
• Charles Brennick, President, Interconnection, Seattle Washington (WR3A Board)
• Mostaem Billah,Memorial University, Bangladesh
• Jim Lynch, TechSoup Global, California
• Allen Liu and Ow Young Su Fung, CEO and VP, Net Peripheral, Malaysia
• Gordon and John Chiu, CEO and VP, Advanced Global Technology, U.S.A and Peru
• Roberto and Alice Valenzuela, Retroworks de Mexico, Mexico (WR3A Board)
• Mike Rohrbach, Founder, CCLAC.org, Arizona (WR3A Board)
• Timothy Anderson, President, World Computer Exchange, California, U.S.A (WR3A Board)
• George Hinkle, CEO, ARCOA Recycling, (WR3A Board)
• Muhammed Wahab Oboi, Importer of electronics, Ghana (WR3A)
• Sarah Commes, PCRR, Refurbishers Group
• Hamdy Moussa, CEO, Medi-Com, Egypt, (WR3A)
• Joshua Goldstein, Professor of Chinese History, USC Los Angeles
• Nancy Jo Craig, CCARC.com, Refurbishers Group, Louisiana
• Oscar Adrian Orta, University of Guadelajara, Mexico (WR3A)
• Adelaide Rivereau, WR3A, Masters in Waste Mgt, Univ Paul Cezanne, France
• Eric Prempeh, Technician, Good Point Recycling, Ghana
• Robin Ingenthron, WR3A, American Retroworks Inc., Good Point Recycling, Vermont
• Brenda Wijnen, University of Amsterdam (WR3A)
• Eva Carreira, WR3A staff, Vermont (WR3A)
• Miguel Macuiza-Artur, Worla Aid, Angola
• Qasim Munir, Good Luck Traders, Lahore, Pakistan

The event is the first time a comprehensive group of colleges and universities will join regulators, watchdogs, activists and e-waste recycling professionals in discussing the importance of e-waste recycling, particularly in emerging and developing markets. Research on establishing fair trade practices in the recycling industry from MIT, Memorial University, University of Peru, and University of Southern California, and Thunderbird University in Arizona will be presented. And importers from Africa, Asia, and South America will speak, noting how repair and recycling businesses are considered good jobs and the products in-demand.

Extending the life of electronics helps to speed the transition of developing nations into the progressively global exchange of commerce and ideas that technology has provided, reduces the environmental footprint of producing electronics and keeps toxics and other materials out of landfills or illegal dumpsites. The summit will also include the announcement of five-year, $479,000 research grant to study Fair Trade Recycling. The subject of the first study will be the partnership between Vermont's Good Point Recycling and its sister company, Retroworks de Mexico, in a Sonoron Desert mining town. American Public Media (Marketplace, Living on Earth), PBS, Associated Press, and others have profiled the Vermont-Mexico partnership as a model of cooperative reuse and recycling.

ABOUT FAIR TRADE RECYCLING
Fair Trade Recycling (the World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association) is a consortium of electronics recycling professionals finding and implementing economically and socially responsible solutions for the "e-waste" problems here at home and overseas. Members pledge not to ship toxics, adhere to strict international environmental and economic standards and best practices and advocate for the social, environmental and economic wellbeing of the people of both importing and exporting nations.

For more information, find the Vermont Fair Trade Recycling Summit on Facebook and Twitter, or visit www.fairtraderecycling.org.