Finally: The "Ayatollah of E-Waste" Apology

The Apology...  Happy Earth Day

[Photos here are from Cameroon, Africa, where I lived in Adamawa, a pluralistic area that was about 50% muslim, and everyone got along]

Half of my students were Muslim

This month I have worked, on and off, with the apology. Interest is high - the blog leading up to this apology got 200 hits in a short period.

One good piece of advice about apologies is to be specific (er.. and brief).  Find something you did which hurt someone, something you regret, and build the apology around that.

I'm sorry for calling Jim Puckett the Ayatollah of E-waste.  Here's why.

If Used Computer Exports are Outlawed

Only OUTLAWS will export used computers.

Here is what happens.  An African like Wahab pays $3-6K for used computers.  He then pays $7-9K to get a sea container packed, through customs, and to his place of business (or his partners place of business) in Accra.  That's the price for a wholesale shipment of computers and display devices to Africa.  

African Shop

This is $10K to $15K for a 40' high cube container, which would fit approximately 400 TVs or 1100 15" computer monitors.

To make sure that the goods he will ship are worth this cost, he is a "fly and buy" consumer - he personally inspects the goods, and packs them into the container himself.   The Watchdogs in Europe call this "waste tourism", and according to Europol, Wahab is a "criminal".  He's black, he exports.  He fits the 'profile'.

If Wahab burns or dumps anywhere close to 80% (300 TVs or 800 monitors) in primitive conditions, he will make, tops, about $3 in copper and metals on the 300 to 800 scrap (citation).   That's $900 on the TVs, $2,400 on the monitor scrap.

The remaining 100 TVs now cost $10K - $900 = $9,100 or $91 per used TV.  That's breakeven, on the best possible shipping cost ($15K would cost $141 per used TV).

The remaining 300 monitors now must sell for $30.33 to $47 each to break even.

Why do most Americans, and most journalists, believe this scenario?

1. They never spoke to an African Importer as a source to any article.
2. They never read the published reports (e.g. Ghana Study 2011)
3. They believe anti-export watchdogs more than they believe the math, studies, and interviews above.
4. They believe that the supply of display devices in the USA and Europe is because the CRTs and 15" LCDs don't work any more, rather than because they've been upgraded for newer and better and flatter displays (made in Asia)... 

Change in fashion does not equal "obsolete" to 3 billion people earning $3K per year.