Conservation criminology and the global trade in electronic waste: Applying a multi-disciplinary research framework

Abstract

The global trade in electronic waste destined for recycling, disposal or reuse (E-waste) poses a significant risk to human health and the natural environment from improper recycling and disposal. However, in part due to the lack of regulatory attention, few empirical studies of this issue exist. In this paper, we fill this knowledge gap by applying a conservation criminology framework to E-waste. Specifically, we draw on criminology and criminal justice, natural-resources management, and risk and decision sciences to describe the nature of the trade, relevant stakeholders, and current interventions. Our initial step is to develop a more holistic picture of E-waste and identify knowledge gaps for future research, working toward building theoretical explanations necessary for effective policy development. Through this work, we hope to demonstrate the importance of, and the steps involved in, using this multi-disciplinary framework to examine and address complex environmental and social problems.

Keywords:

• conservation criminology
• environmental crime
• electronic waste

Notes

1. Although gaps exist in the knowledge, this type of uncertainty is not unusual in the context of complex environmental issues.

2. Thus, the goal of this paper is not to explain the global trade in E-waste, but rather to use conservation criminology as a conceptual framework for conducting multi-disciplinary research on these types of problems. In our view, this represents the first step toward testing and/or constructing theoretical accounts of E-waste.

3. Our use of the term conservation criminology is intended to make explicit the connection of environmental, ecological, or green criminology with the multi-disciplinary insights from fields including risk and decision sciences and natural-resource management. Like Herbig and Joubert (2006), we think that conservation criminology identifies the core theme of this area of study. In our case, that theme is the linkage between crime, compliance and risk related to conservation. We define conservation as the wise use and management of any natural resource, indicating that human dimensions are an important component along with environmental considerations (Allaby, 1994). However, we do not intend to suggest that human dimensions are the only important component. Indeed, the incorporation of structured decision-making from risk and decision sciences recognizes the necessity of finding balance among different stakeholder needs when exploring and addressing environmental crimes and risks.

4. This is not to suggest that other disciplines are irrelevant; merely that these three provide a good foundation for this particular area of inquiry.

5. We recognize that criminologists, at least since Sutherland (1940), have noted the need to move beyond legal definitions of crime. But, broader definitions of harm can be profitably informed by scientific assessments drawn from fields such as environmental risk assessment and natural-resource management. Examples of such assessments can be seen in the environmental justice research literature (e.g., Lynch, Stretesky, & Burns, 2004; Stretesky & Lynch, 1999).

6. A CRT is the glass video display component in electronic devices, most often a computer or television monitor (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2006). Two different data sets and methodologies were used to estimate the number and weight of products that become obsolete each year and the end-of-life management strategies that are used (the amount of products collected for recycling, stockpiled and exported for recycling). Similar conclusions were made with both methodologies.

7. The EPA estimates described all US accumulation while the notification data only describe US exports of broken CRT glass. Exporters are required to estimate the total volume to be shipped over a one-year period (in kilograms). Estimates are provided in a variety of formats, some requiring us to extrapolate from average shipment size to yearly export. For example, rather than reporting the yearly total, some businesses reported the estimated quantity to be exported in terms of kilograms per truckload along with the number of truckloads per month. In a few instances, businesses provided both a shipment and a yearly estimate of exports, but our yearly estimate from the shipment specific data did not match the businesses yearly estimate. In these cases, we reported the estimates derived from the shipment data, subsequently noting differences in what we found and what the companies reported as their yearly estimate of export. In addition, estimates were provided for different 12-month periods; some notifications covered calendar year, and others covered some unique (specified) time period. When a specific time period was not provided, we assumed that exports would occur in the 12 months following the notification date and estimated the portion of shipments that would occur during 2007 (when the export notification did not cover calendar year). In eight cases where the exporter did not specify the time period, we assumed it was one year from the date the notification. Finally, exporters estimated shipments in a variety of metrics (i.e., pounds, kilograms, etc.), forcing us to convert to a common unit of kilograms. Thus, these estimates contain substantial measurement error and should be interpreted with caution.

8. Because it is difficult to obtain information on businesses that are not part of large, publicly traded corporations, we do not provide specific numbers for various business structures and strategies at this time. We offer general descriptions based on the data we have been able to compile from publicly available data sources.

9. For example, under the US Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), companies and individuals are prohibited from disposing “[l]iquid hazardous wastes, including free liquids associated with any solid or sludge, containing ... lead and/or compounds (as Pb) [at ‘concentrations greater than or equal to’] 500 mg/l (42 USC. §6901 (1976), Section 3004(d)),” unless the EPA Administrator determines that a particular disposal method is safe. Such disposal is subject to civil penalties up to “$25,000 per day of noncompliance for each violation (Section 3008).”

10. A number of states have enacted or are considering further regulations governing E-waste. As of 2007, 12 states had enacted regulation on E-waste management. Most of these states (nine of the 12) ban the disposal of E-waste in landfills, increasing the incentive for export. In contrast, only two states place additional restrictions on exports beyond federal requirements (Luther, 2007).

11. EPA's initial approach following the enactment of the regulations governing export of CRTs focused on education. However, two recent cases indicate an enforcement approach as well. In January 2010, EPA ordered a California firm to pay a fine of $37,000 per day for exporting 38 pallets of CRTs that were part of 32,000 pounds of E-waste rejected for import from Hong Kong (Carter, 2010). In July 2009, EPA filed a Complaint and Compliance Order against an electronic waste handling firm that was accepting E-waste for charities in Pittsburgh with a claim of recycling the products locally but in reality was found to have shipped the E-waste to Hong Kong and South Africa (Solid Waste and Recycling, 2009).

12. Other interpretations of the Basel Ban are possible. Although numerous types of E-waste were added to Annex VIII of the Convention as prohibited hazardous waste, Annex IX exempts these materials from the hazardous waste designation if they pass tests for hazards. However, these tests are not clearly defined (Lepawsky & McNabb, 2010).

13. The First Schedule includes “Waste from electrical and electronic assemblies containing components such as accumulators, mercury-switches, glass from cathode-ray tubes and other activated glass or polychlorinated biphenylcapacitors, or contaminated with cadmium, mercury, lead, nickel, chromium, copper, lithium, silver, manganese or polychlorinated biphenyl (Government of Malaysia, 2007, SW 110).

14. Some risk governance techniques are consistent with a traditional criminological focus on crime prevention, while others represent new strategies.