The Basel Action Network (BAN), a charitable

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

, works to combat the export of toxic waste from technology and other products from industrialized societies to

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

. BAN is based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, United States, with a partner office in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. BAN is named after the Basel Convention, a 1989

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

treaty designed to control and prevent the dumping of toxic wastes, particularly on developing countries. BAN serves as an unofficial

watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watchdog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet U ...

and promoter of the Basel Convention and its decisions.

Campaigns

BAN currently runs four campaigns focusing on decreasing the amount of toxins entering the environment and protecting underdeveloped countries from serving as a toxic dump of the developed countries of the world."About the Basel Action Network,"
BAN.org. Accessed: August 5, 2013. These include:

The e-Stewards Initiative

BAN's e-Stewards Electronics Stewardship campaign seeks to prevent toxic trade in hazardous electronic waste and includes a certification program for responsible electronics recycling known as the e-Stewards Initiative. It is available to electronics recyclers after they prove to have environmentally and socially responsible recycling techniques following audits conducted by accredited certifying bodies. Recyclers can become e-Steward certified after proving that they follow all national and international laws concerning electronic waste and its proper disposal, which includes bans on exporting, land dumping, incineration, and use of prison labor. When the e-Stewards initiative was initially started with the Electronics TakeBack Coalition, it was called "The Electronics Recycler's Pledge of True Stewardship". In the beginning, the initiative verified a recycler's participation through "desk" and paper audits only. The e-Stewards certification, however, has been updated and requires compliance verification by a third party auditor.

Green ship recycling

BAN has teamed up with several other

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

(NGOs), including

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

to form the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking. The platform is focused on the responsible

ship breaking Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

disposal of end-of-life shipping vessels. The overall purpose of the platform is to stop the illegal dumping of toxic waste traveling from developed countries to undeveloped countries. The platform is focused on finding more sustainable, environmentally and socially responsible disposal techniques of disposing of such wastes, which can be achieved through a system where the polluter will be responsible for paying any fees associated with the legal and safe disposal of ships and other marine vessels. The NGO platform endorses the principles outlined in the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

Notes

References

Metech Announces Support for BAN E-Stewards Program
BAN Founder Jim Puckett expects much more e-waste will be exported from the U.S. once the broadcasting industry switches to digital signals on Feb. 17 and millions of households junk their old analog TV sets.
"After Dump, What Happens To Electronic Waste?"
interview with Jim Puckett by

Terry Gross Terry Gross (born February 14, 1951) is an American journalist who is the host and co-executive producer of '' Fresh Air'', an interview-based radio show produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and distributed nationally by NPR. Since joining NP ...

, ''

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's hosts are Terry Gross and Tonya Mosl ...

'', NPR, December 21, 2010.

External links