southeast michigan e steward recycling plants

It’s the same route Puckett is taking now. Most often, they traveled across the Pacific to rural Hong Kong. The tracked electronics ended up in Mexico, Taiwan, China, Pakistan, Thailand, Dominican Republic, Canada and Kenya. That includes six of the 14 tracker-equipped electronics that Puckett’s group dropped off to be recycled in Washington and Oregon. “The little devices went out and spoke to us, called home regularly, saying ‘this is where I am.’”Ībout a third of the tracked electronics went overseas - some as far as 12,000 miles. “The trackers are like miniature cell phones,” he said. They dropped them off nationwide at donation centers, recyclers and electronic take-back programs - enterprises that advertise themselves as “green,” “sustainable,” “earth friendly” and “environmentally responsible.”Ī Basel Action Network employee places a GPS tracker inside a broken printer. Puckett’s organization partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to put 200 geolocating tracking devices inside old computers, TVs and printers. READ MORE: The Circuit: Tracking down America’s electronic waste (via KCTS9) Americans send about 50,000 dump trucks worth of electronics to recyclers each year.īut a two-year investigation by the Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based e-waste watchdog group, concluded that sometimes businesses are exporting electronics rather than recycling them. Electronics contain toxic materials like lead and mercury, which can harm the environment and people. The United States produces more e-waste than any country in the world.

“People have the right to know where their stuff goes,” he says.ĭead electronics make up the world’s fastest-growing source of waste. He’s searching for America’s electronic waste. He squints at the pixelated terrain trying to make out telltale signs. Little orange markers dot a satellite image. His eyes are fixed on the glowing screen of his laptop. High above the Pacific Ocean in a plane headed for Hong Kong, most of the passengers are fast asleep.īut not Jim Puckett.

Southeast michigan e steward recycling plants