E-cycle Event Questioned

The Basel Action Network(BAN) alleges that an E-cycle event held in Allegheny County during March and April was a fake. Most of the electronic materials could be dropped off for free at county parks and the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society's headquarters on the North Side. BAN says it followed trucks that contained the e-waste to two area warehouses, and then observed the waste being reloaded onto 40-foot ocean-going containers. BAN then tracked 6 of the containers to Hong Kong and 1 to South Africa.

Jeffrey Nixon is CEO of EarthEcycle, which held the event. He says his company did nothing wrong, and that materials in good enough shape to be re-used were shipped to purchasers overseas. Nixon says waste that contained toxic materials had yet to be properly recycled, and is still in a warehouse in Monroeville. Nixon said that $150,000 was raised for the Humane Society and he expects to be able to pay the organization within a month.

The Humane Society is expecting a payment of $150,000 by June 10th. The organization stood to get $10,000 for every 100,000 pounds of e-waste collected.