Proper management of "e-Waste", WEEE, or scraps from used electronics is a very "niche" environmentalist concern. When public attention, or a reporter, stumbles on a niche issue, it's hard to know who the "expert" is. This leads to what I'd describe as "celebrity experts". We know certain celebrities who are "famous for being famous".
Ten years ago, Jim Puckett announced his organization was an expert. He may well be an expert in Basel Convention, a truly niche environmental law. But he got so many things wrong about Guiyu, that he's lucky the place was too obscure to recognize the truth behind. Here on Columbus Day, we still call American Indians "Indians". And people still think Guiyu was a resting spot for cathode ray tubes. There are none there, or what few were photographed were small enough to be generated from homes in Guiyu itself.
But Puckett made Guiyu "about" a Swiss city, Basel, which I drove through last summer. He did not explain the difference between the Basel Convention ratification by the USA and the ratification of an Amendment to the Basel Convention by everyone else - but he made the city name of "Basel" mean both, to most people in our industry. His expertise created confusion. Basel Convention, in Annex IX, allows export not only for reuse and repair, but actually for recycling (so long as no Annex III releases occur... so no burning, but if it's properly accounted for, it's legal. See B1110).
The Basel Ban Amendment (proposed) was promoted in the mid 1990s as a cure for what Jim claimed was the "recycling loophole". And this "amendment" has still never been passed by the Convention. But hang on, derivatives of derivatives approaching...
Someone suggests that the "export for repair" legality in the Basel Convention should also be included into the proposed Basel Ban Amendment (the one still under "consideration" after 15 years). That suggestion was not voted in. But now our celebrity expert gets National Coverage on not-amending-an-unpassed-amendment (Resource Recycling's E-Scrap News). The headline becomes that repair is denied at a meeting of the Basel Convention.
Nothing changed. Repair is still legal under the Basel Convention (as is recycling). And the Basel Convention "Amendment" still hasn't passed. The wording to the 1995 Amendment was "not changed". And the celebrity expert, Jim Puckett, gets that into the national news.
Obscure meeting about 15 year old unpassed amendment generates headline. See what he did there? He can make anything a headline, just like Molly Cyrus, Tom Arnold, Kato Kaelin, or Paris Hilton.
BAN's an expert at being an expert. You do have to grant them that.
"Even when a person's fame arises from a particular talent or action on their part, the term will sometimes still apply if their fame is perceived as disproportionate to what they earned through their talent or work." wikipediaCertain e-waste recycling experts are recognized as such because they've been recognized as such.
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| Photo owned by whom? |
But Puckett made Guiyu "about" a Swiss city, Basel, which I drove through last summer. He did not explain the difference between the Basel Convention ratification by the USA and the ratification of an Amendment to the Basel Convention by everyone else - but he made the city name of "Basel" mean both, to most people in our industry. His expertise created confusion. Basel Convention, in Annex IX, allows export not only for reuse and repair, but actually for recycling (so long as no Annex III releases occur... so no burning, but if it's properly accounted for, it's legal. See B1110).
The Basel Ban Amendment (proposed) was promoted in the mid 1990s as a cure for what Jim claimed was the "recycling loophole". And this "amendment" has still never been passed by the Convention. But hang on, derivatives of derivatives approaching...
 |
| foreign, mysterious WEEE |
Nothing changed. Repair is still legal under the Basel Convention (as is recycling). And the Basel Convention "Amendment" still hasn't passed. The wording to the 1995 Amendment was "not changed". And the celebrity expert, Jim Puckett, gets that into the national news.
Obscure meeting about 15 year old unpassed amendment generates headline. See what he did there? He can make anything a headline, just like Molly Cyrus, Tom Arnold, Kato Kaelin, or Paris Hilton.
BAN's an expert at being an expert. You do have to grant them that.
