After a cacophony of alarm bells in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, Basel Action Network and Greenpeace have finally achieved what they wanted.
A TV repair man is going to jail for buying something reuseable which someone else wanted, who could not otherwise afford new.
There has been one environmental activist who has been trying to keep "illegal exports of e-waste" in the news. They earn money by certifying Recyclers don't illegally export. But they've rarely been able to show enforcement, and bemoan our inattention to "ewaste exports".
Yesterday they got their Big News. OMG. An African is finally going to UK jail for "e-waste" wastecrime.
Joseph "Joe" Benson (black) of BJ Electronics was accused by Cahal Milmo (white) of #wastecrime. Lord Chris Smith, the UK's Environmental Director, vowed to stop England's illegal dumping on the shores of Nigeria and Ghana. And they put a TV repairman, with about 90% working product, in prison to make him an example to others willing to trade or donate used goods to Africa.
After 4 years and untold dollars, Joseph Benson said uncle. He will start a sentence of 16 months.
Who is "Joe Benson"? In February, this blog was the main source of information about the trial and appeals of "Hurricane" Joseph Benson of BK Electronics. Benson, a Nigerian-born television repairman, was profiled by UK journalist Cahal Milmo as an "e-waste exporter". In a sting set up by Greenpeace, covered The Independent's Cahal Milmo, BBC, and The Guardian newspaper, Benson's crew reportedly accepted a sabotaged CRT television in 2010.
Just learned that Benson sentence was reduced from 24 to 16 months in prison today.
So who pointed the finger at Joe Benson? It started in 2005, with the publication by Basel Action Network of its paper, "The Digital Dump: Exporting Reuse and Abuse to Africa". BBC covered the paper in 2006.
A TV repair man is going to jail for buying something reuseable which someone else wanted, who could not otherwise afford new.
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| Hoax 1, Africa 0 |
Yesterday they got their Big News. OMG. An African is finally going to UK jail for "e-waste" wastecrime.
Joseph "Joe" Benson (black) of BJ Electronics was accused by Cahal Milmo (white) of #wastecrime. Lord Chris Smith, the UK's Environmental Director, vowed to stop England's illegal dumping on the shores of Nigeria and Ghana. And they put a TV repairman, with about 90% working product, in prison to make him an example to others willing to trade or donate used goods to Africa.
After 4 years and untold dollars, Joseph Benson said uncle. He will start a sentence of 16 months.
Who is "Joe Benson"? In February, this blog was the main source of information about the trial and appeals of "Hurricane" Joseph Benson of BK Electronics. Benson, a Nigerian-born television repairman, was profiled by UK journalist Cahal Milmo as an "e-waste exporter". In a sting set up by Greenpeace, covered The Independent's Cahal Milmo, BBC, and The Guardian newspaper, Benson's crew reportedly accepted a sabotaged CRT television in 2010.
Just learned that Benson sentence was reduced from 24 to 16 months in prison today.
So who pointed the finger at Joe Benson? It started in 2005, with the publication by Basel Action Network of its paper, "The Digital Dump: Exporting Reuse and Abuse to Africa". BBC covered the paper in 2006.
In customs documents, the computers are described as being "shipped for re-use."But Jim Puckett of environmental NGO the Basel Action Network says that in practice, dubious exporters exploit the re-use category to increases their profits and offload their environmental responsibilities.
"Unscrupulous exporters from the North are intentionally mixing bad with good so that they are able to avoid disposal costs," he says.
"Usually when you bring a computer to a recycler, you pay a fee. But brokers will take this fee, and instead of recycling will mix in some good equipment and trade it... exporters say it is working equipment to help the poor to bridge the digital divide, but what we've observed is not bridging the digital divide but the creation of a digital dump."
In fact, it is several dumps, spread around the city. Lagos has no computer recycling facilities itself, and so the waste computers build up in huge piles.On these dumps children scavenge for the contents - they can earn around US $2 a day by collecting components - but are also putting their health seriously at risk.
