ShawneeDispatch.com

To the editor:

The Surplus Exchange worked with the city of Overland Park to host an e-waste event at Shawnee Mission North on April 5.

In that time we removed over 42 tons 84,000 pounds in 6 hours. All material will be recycled in the United States. We do not allow any of our e-waste to ship overseas. Our downstream vendor chain is audited and our operations are transparent. We also refuse to use prison labor.

E-waste contains many environmental toxins and meets regulatory standards to be classified as hazardous waste. Shipping e-waste to China, Africa, India, Mexico and Venezuela is simply irresponsible. Allowing people to handle e-waste in an unprotected and unregulated environment does come back to haunt us. Why are we importing so many products tainted by lead from China? Could it have anything to do with the tons of leaded glass we ship to China that is discarded by or in rivers and streams?

We removed about 5,000 pounds at Harrisonville and worked with Sprint to remove nearly 10,000 pounds of e-waste in just 2 hours at their Earth Day event.

A survey of asset tags in a Nigerian dump last year found computers from the Kansas Department of Agriculture, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and a couple of companies based in south Kansas City/ south Johnson County. How do you think that happened? I can guarantee that those items did not pass through The Surplus Exchange.

You either recycle or you just burden shift. The Surplus Exchange recycles. The Surplus Exchange is a BAN approved facility (ban.org). We are a designated Sony Recycling Depot and will host Hewlett Packard on a facility tour with the aim of becoming their Midwest recycling center. These organizations seek us out because we do it right!

Bob Akers

The Surplus Exchange,

Kansas City, Mo.