Man jailed for illegally exporting electrical waste to Africa
Found on The Guardian on Sunday, 22 June 2014
A waste dealer has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for illegally exporting tonnes of hazardous electrical waste to Africa, the Environment Agency said.
Joe Benson, 54, of Broad Street, Loughton, Essex, was sentenced to 16 months in prison at Snaresbrook Crown Court for illegally exporting 46 tonnes of hazardous waste to Nigeria, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and the Congo.
Sounds good, right? Well, until you take a look at some research which points out that more than 90% of the 'waste' was still working, or easy to repair. Knowing that, there's the bitter taste of an attempt to stomp out the second hand market which creates no profits for companies. Similar to the music and game market where the industry lobbies against the reselling of products.