An inquiry by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General revealed that federal prisons, operating under the trade name UNICOR, “routinely exposed inmates to toxic heavy metals and exported hazardous wastes to developing countries”.
The report, “Review of Federal Prison Industries’ Electronic-Waste Recycling Program”, also said that the UNICOR staff was involved in cover-ups, money laundering, theft, fraud and other charges.
BAN and the Electronic TakeBack Coalition said they have long opposed the use of prison labor because “it subjects vulnerable prison populations to hazardous substances”.
BAN added: “It provides for an unfair taxpayer funded subsidy which hurts the private sector development of recycling infrastructure, and allows criminals inappropriate access to sensitive private data found on hard drives and other data media.”
The Environmental Protection Agency’s former Electronic Waste Senior Scientist, Bob Tonetti, who in the past was a strong supporter of continued US government exports of hazardous wastes and who was quoted as saying that export was part of the US e-Waste strategy, is now Chief of UNICOR operations, according to BAN.
He is quoted in the recent report stating that he continues to send e-waste to other companies which in turn export of e-waste, including hazardous cathode ray tube glass, to countries like India and Malaysia. Such exports are likely to be in violation of Basel Convention trade rules.
Jim Puckett, Executive Director of BAN, said: “We have said all along, that prisoners should not be managing toxic waste and the federal government should never allow the export of such wastes to developing countries.
“Now we are finding out that not only did the federal government continue to allow it, they were doing it themselves and may still be doing it to this day.
“It is outrageous that in this report the federal government admits to the Department of Justice that it continues to violate international law with impunity. This gross violation of human rights, sustainable development and international law must cease at once.”
BAN added: “BAN urges passage of new House Bill 6252, introduced by Representatives Raymond Green and John Carter of Texas and Mike Thompson of California, which will ban the export of US hazardous wastes to developing countries.
“And BAN urges all consumers of electronics, large and small, to be sure to only take their e-wastes to e-Stewards recyclers who do not export the equipment to developing countries.”