For Immediate Release

September 2, 2009 (Seattle)

The Basel Action Network is pleased to announce that the non-profit environmental watchdog has recognized Global Environmental Services, LLC of Georgetown, KY as an e-Steward™ electronics recycler, a designation awarded to North American electronics recyclers and asset managers who have been qualified as upholding the highest standard of environmental and social responsibility. “We congratulate Global Environmental Services on passing our rigorous review,” says Jim Puckett, BAN’s Executive Director. “The public and GES’s customers can feel confident that, unlike most of the electronics recycling industry, Global Environmental Services does not use dumping, prison labor, or poor laborers in developing countries to process e-waste. It is an expensive and complex process to recycle electronics so the poisonous byproducts do not hurt people or the planet. In an industry rife with fraud and false claims, only e-Stewards can prove they are responsible and ethical.”

“Global Environmental Services has always voluntarily operated at the highest standards in the electronics recycling industry,” said Kenny Gravitt, Owner and Managing Principle of GES. “In a culture where many people pay lip service to the ‘green’ standards they claim to uphold, Global Environmental Services follows through on every promise we make. We are proud to be recognized by BAN at the absolute highest level in our field. I simply have never been more proud of my team and this exceptional accomplishment.”

BAN estimates there are major ethical problems with how approximately 90% of U.S. electronic recycling companies operate: 1) most so-called “recyclers” actually export the toxic scrap to developing countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, India and China, thus creating enormous horrific toxic dumps that 60 Minutes called “the most poisonous places on earth”; 2) they use U.S. prison labor, which poisons the inmates and provides unfair competition to legitimate recyclers in the private sector; 3) they use local municipal landfills and incinerators, passing the toxics to local taxpayers and their groundwater and air; 4) they ignore sensitive personal or corporate data hidden in memory devices on computing and phone equipment; 5) and finally, few protect their own workers from toxic phosphors, dangerous shredder dust from dismantled equipment, and other potent hazards associated with electronics recycling.

In response, BAN and other environmental and social justice advocates have joined with a progressive minority of electronic recycling industry leaders to establish needed rules now known as the “e-Steward Standard.” These rules prevent these major problems, and today, over 30 of the most sophisticated electronics recyclers have passed BAN’s qualification, increasingly known as the gold standard for the industry. Global Environmental Services is the latest member of this progressive industry leadership.

GES’ new 70,000 square foot facility in Kentucky is among the best e-recycling centers in the world, and its staff has a long history of experience in recycling, information technology, de-manufacturing, waste management, logistics, and business operations. The company’s strategic partners have deep expertise in environmental management, materials processing, and resource recovery.

An environmentally conscious staff and state of the art technology support GES’ ironclad commitment towards environmentally sustainable electronics recycling and transparency in all its operations.

To learn more about Global Environmental Services, LLC join them on Facebook at GES Recycles, visit their website at gesrecycles.com or to schedule an interview with Kenny Gravitt, Managing Principal at GES, please contact Sharon Andrews at sharon.andrews@gesrecycles.com; mobile 859.250.7693.

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