Mr Jordan previously investigated how much councils knew about where their waste was ending up with a programme on ITV entitled ‘Tonight: A Rubbish Service', which aired in September 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story).
The illegal export of waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) has been a growing cause of concern for the UK waste sector, with a joint operation by Greenpeace, Sky News and The Independent highlighting the issue with an expose in February 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).
In accompanying notes for tonight's show, the BBC said: “It is hard to imagine this in England, where you can be fined for not sorting your recycling box properly. Yet somehow, tonnes of electrical waste are dumped in Ghana.”
“We have banned the export of electrical waste, but that green law has turned toxic as criminals smuggle it out for recycling in one of the poorest countries on earth,” it added.
At the end of the journey material asset-tracked to firms such as international financial company CitiGroup and University College London is taken to the SWEEEP recycling facility at Sittingbourne in Kent to be processed.
Justin Greenaway, contracts manager at SWEEEP, told letsrecycle.com that it was glad to be involved in the show but lamented the fact that the issue of waste electrical items was appearing in the mainstream media with increased regularity.
He said: “If you are a big company it is too easy to say ‘here is a waste management company' and give them your WEEE and then you don't know where it goes from there. There has been too many times that it is shows like this that have to bring it to people's attention.”
The programme will also be available on BBC iPlayer after the show has aired.
Register for free to comment