July 2007

• BAN attends the Marine Environmental Protection Committee Shipbreaking working group meeting in London.
  


• BAN issues warning regarding the sale of two warships by Chile to shipbrokers. Calls on Chile to have the ships broken in the UK or US.
  


• Major Release! -- BAN and Professor Weidenhamer of Ashland University release their findings that the source of lead in contaminated imported charm jewelry from China is likely to be electronic waste. Story runs in Wall Street Journal but fails to credit BAN.
  


• BAN learns it has succeeded in getting a US Congress GAO study launched on electronic waste exportation.
  


• Victory! -- The European Union Correspondent’s Group passes their Guidelines Number 1 distinguishing Waste from non-Waste electronics. This document is a direct result of BAN’s film Digital Dump which exposed the loophole of exports under the guise of reuse.

August

• Major Victory! -- The vessel Otapan, the subject of a concerted campaign over many years by the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking, has been refused one last time by Turkey, prompting the Dutch government to announce that it will be scrapped in the Netherlands.
  


• BAN invited for a special film showing of Exporting Harm and The Digital Dump in British Colombia, hosted by Free Geek Vancouver.
  


• Major News Story featuring BAN and e-Waste appears in Dutch Newspaper Volkskrant.

September

• BAN attends the Partnership on Action on Computer Equipment (PACE) in Geneva. BAN presses for social responsibility to be in the plank as well as action on Green Design.
  


• BAN attends the 6th Open-Ended Working Group of the Basel Convention in Geneva. Richard Gutierrez of BAN-AP, conducts Side Event on Japan’s Economic Partnership Agreements.
  


• BAN hires researcher/writer to work on US Shipbreaking.
  


• BAN issues press release in Washington State, warning the Governor that the e-Waste bill will likely have the counter-productive effect of collecting more e-waste that will then be sent off-shore to Asia.
  


• BAN together with the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking, issue press release denouncing India Supreme Court Decision to allow breaking of the ocean liner, SS Norway (aka Blue Lady).

October

• BAN’s film The Digital Dump is chosen from hundreds of entries to be shown as part of the United Nation’s Film Festival. BAN’s Jim Puckett attends and speaks at public screening at Stanford University.
  


• BAN’s Yuka Takamiya and Japanese activist Takeshi Yasuma in Tokyo complete Japanese version of the film Exporting Harm.
  


• BAN attends and exhibits at the 2007 e-Scrap conference in Atlanta. Our booth promoting e-Stewards attracts hundreds of participants.
  


• BAN holds e-Stewards coordinating/updating meeting at the Atlanta, Conference with leading recyclers.

November

• Victory! -- BAN film The Digital Dump shown to the cabinet and President (head of state) of Nigeria with great impact. Nigeria immediately imposes high duties on e-waste.
  


• BAN submits a comprehensive review and critique of India’s draft new Hazardous Waste law. This is provided to NGOs and the Indian government.
  


• BAN alerts first EPA and then the Baltimore Sun about impending export of PCB laden ex-Naval hospital ship M/V Sanctuary’s likely export for shipbreaking in likely violation of US law. Story makes front page of Baltimore Sun.
  


• BAN featured on NPR: Marketplace story including the story on our e-Waste coming back to haunt us in the form of imported charm jewelry from China – story which BAN first broke with Professor Weidenhamer from Ashland University.
  


• Two major global Associated Press stories released with pick up from CNN, Fox, International Herald Tribune, Melbourne Herald Post, China Post etc.features BAN.
  


• Victory! -- BAN stops export of another US ship. Following BAN tip and subsequent EPA action the Federal court in Baltimore granted both a temporary restraining order and Preliminary Injunction, effectively barring the export of PCB laden M/V Sanctuary.

December

• Major Release! -- BAN is featured and applauded in a National Geographic article "High-Tech Trash", released in December for it January issue.

January 2008

• BAN participates in the Nokia’s Corporate Responsibility Stakeholder Days, in Helsinki, Finland and gives talk on cell phone recycling and the global “Pachinko Machine”.
  


• BAN participates in the intercessional working group on shipbreaking of the International Maritime Organization in Nantes, France.
  


• BAN issues press release warning North American consumers that wish to discard post-Christmas electronic equipment replaced by gifts, that most recyclers are exporters and to use e-Stewards.
  


• BAN assists in providing a section on the INFORM film: “The Secret Life of Cell Phones" which is released this month.
  


• BAN is featured in New York Times magazine article entitled the “Afterlife of Cell-Phones".

February

• BAN tips off EPA to the export of the SS Oceanic (aka SS Independence) after it left San Francisco Bay in a likely illegal departure. Issues press releases denouncing export and alerting Hawaiian authorities. Provides EPA with best evidence of PCBs.

March

• BAN attends Mobile Phone Working Group (MPWG) and Partnership for Action on Computing Equipment (PACE) meetings in Geneva.
  


• BAN sends in written comments on US Federal e-Waste Legislation concept paper.
  


• For first time major news outlet targets US commercial ship export illegality and responsibility of the Maritime Administration in Christian Science Monitor Article featuring BAN entitled: "Aged Ships a Toxic Export".
  


• Victory! -- EPA files lawsuit against GMS, major US based cashbuyer of ships for scrap for illegal export of SS Oceanic (aka SS Independence).