March, 01 2011, 09:41am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Neil Peters-Michaud, CEO Cascade Asset Mgt
Phone: (608) 316-6637
Email: nmichaud@cascade-assets.com
Lauren Roman, e-Stewards Business Director
Phone: (973) 224-7632
Email: LRoman@ban.org
California, Florida and Indiana e-waste Recycling Facilities Earn e-Stewards Certification
Cascade Asset Management offers coast-to-coast e-Stewards IT asset disposition solutions
MADISON, WI
The Basel Action Network (www.BAN.org), a global toxic trade watchdog organization, announced today that the Florida, Indiana and California technology equipment refurbishing and recycling centers of Cascade Asset Management (Cascade), are now e-Stewards Certified(r), and thus adhere to the world's highest standard for socially and environmentally responsible recycling. With this announcement, California and Florida now have their first e-Stewards Certified recycling option. Cascade's Wisconsin headquarters became e-Stewards Certified in 2010. Now all of Cascade's recycling facilities are e-Stewards Certified.
Cascade's four processing centers provide a coast-to-coast solution to institutions and enterprises looking for secure and responsible IT asset disposition. In the last two years, Cascade has been able to complete over 18,000 on-site pickups at locations across all fifty states. Since 1999, Cascade has handled over 62 million pounds of unwanted electronics for reuse and recycling.
"In the absence of leadership or laws requiring responsible electronics recycling here in the US, BAN created a program to help organizations and individuals find responsible electronics recyclers. Certified e-Stewards Recyclers have undergone a rigorous independent audit process to ensure they are not simply dumping this toxic waste on developing countries under the guise of recycling that sadly is the norm in this industry," said Jim Puckett, BAN's Executive Director. "As a Certified e-Stewards Recycler, Cascade Asset Management can now assure customers their obsolete electronics will be managed to the highest standards of responsibility."
The e-Stewards program is recognized by environmental organizations, government entities, and private enterprises as the gold standard for vetting electronics recyclers. The accredited, third-party audited certification program has not only been endorsed by Greenpeace USA, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the Electronics TakeBack Coalition and 68 other environmental organizations, but has also drawn the support of major corporate "e-Stewards Enterprises" such as Wells Fargo, Samsung, Capitol One, and Bank of America.
"e-Stewards Certification validates Cascade's ongoing commitment to responsible processing of IT assets," said Neil Peters-Michaud, CEO and founder of Cascade. "It's a rigorous standard that evaluates all our operations, systems, and downstream management to demonstrate conformance to the highest standard for responsibility in the industry."
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About Cascade
Cascade Asset Management has provided full service IT asset retirement solutions since 1999 with four facilities throughout the United States. The company collects, receives and processes office electronics from enterprises and institutions across North America. For more information about Cascade, please visit www.cascade-assets.com or call (888) 222-8399.
About the Basel Action Network
The Basel Action Network (BAN) was founded in 1997 and named after the Basel Convention, the United Nations treaty that restricts trade in hazardous wastes and was intended to stop the dumping of toxic waste on developing nations. In the last decade, BAN has exposed the toxic trade issue to the world via investigations, reports and documentary films on two of the largest illegal hazardous waste streams traded internationally today: electronic waste and toxic ships destined for 'recycling' in developing countries. Today, BAN is not only the leading global source of information and advocacy on toxic trade and international hazardous waste treaties, but it has also developed market-based solutions that rely on the highest standards for globally responsible recycling and rigorous independent certification to those standards. For more information on BAN and the e-Stewards program, visit www.e-stewards.org.
Basel Action Network's mission is to champion global environmental health and justice by ending toxic trade, catalyzing a toxics-free future, and campaigning for everyone's right to a clean environment.
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