What AI Says About This Blog. Kinda Now, Kinda Wow....

 The Good Point Recycling blog (retroworks.blogspot.com), authored by Robin Ingenthron, features a wide range of influential posts focused on ethical electronics recycling and e-waste management. Some of the most popular and influential topics include:

1. Critique of the UNU E-Waste Research Program: One of the more impactful posts challenges the statistics and methodologies used by certain global institutions in the e-waste industry, particularly around how e-waste exports to developing countries are portrayed.

2. Solar Panel Recycling Initiatives: This blog highlights solar panel reuse projects, discussing the complexities of repurposing panels in developing nations and comparing it to historical issues around CRT (cathode ray tube) recycling.

3. Fair Trade Recycling Advocacy: Many posts advocate for "fair trade recycling," arguing that developing countries benefit from access to secondhand electronics, which should be seen as an opportunity for technology transfer rather than a dumping issue.

These posts draw attention due to their deep, often critical analysis of global e-waste practices and the underlying motivations of international organizations involved in e-waste regulation.

For more insights and to explore influential posts on e-waste and electronics recycling, you can visit the blog directly.

Too Fine a Point on E-Waste Exports: You Shall Not Pass

Some have said it's an interesting thesis, the "Tinkerer's Blessing", and the risks of "Environmental Malpractice".  Search those terms in the box to the right.  The "Motherboard.tv" article has gained a lot of traction, in part because it accepts the premise that non-profit anti-export advocates mean well.  But perhaps we have put too fine a point on it.

If you are doing a term paper on "environmental justice", or on a topic I call "environmental malpractice", or simply researching the export of recycling generally, here's the truth.

A small non-profit in Seattle publicly accused African and Asian reuse traders of buying USA waste in order to burn it on the ground, of polluting or dumping.   The NGO accused the African and Asian traders of being motivated by "externalizing the cost" of American E-Waste companies.

The USA NGO, Basel Action Network, has repeatedly told the press that 80% of the used electronics exported are recycled in "primitive" processes, coining phrases like "reuse excuse" and "digital dump" (rather than "digital divide").

As a result, African, Middle Eastern, and Asian reuse factories have had their goods seized, have had their import permits revoked, and have been forced into smuggling channels with less responsible suppliers. 

There is no "habeus corpus" linking these people to the dumps.  It's "To Kill a Mockingbird" in the digital age.

In fact, independent researchers have found the opposite.   Most of the junk shown at African dumps was NOT recently imported, but comes from cities like Lagos (20 million residents, 7 million households with television).  The importers there, according to independent sampling of 279 sea containers, achieve 91% reuse... that's 9% not 80% recycling.  And it is a better reuse rate than brand new product sales in Africa!