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".

Regulations: The Purpose of Rules

When there are Guidelines or regulations, there are reasons to follow them and enforce them.

1. There is a positive environmental effect to the rules (or negative impact from not following the rule).
2. "Rules are Rules".   If Rules are not enforced, other meaningful (see #1) Rules will also not be enforced.

If it is #1, there should be a science or test to demonstrate and constantly improve on the rules.  If for example there is a different rule (Universal Waste vs. EPA CRT Rule) in Vermont vs. NH, MA, NY (our three border states), enough time has passed to know the pros and cons attributable to the differences.   It's not about the alleged ego clash between 1990s MA DEP David Struhs vs. EPA Region I's John DeVillars.

If it is #2, I can accept that... So long as the Rules are applied evenly and to everyone.  If Vermont has a different rule from NH, MA, NY, and is applying the rule for consistency, you expect to see the same citations to my list of 9 other electronics processors in the state.