Saint Paul, MN- Last week, the Basel Action Network (BAN) released its landmark report “Brokers of Shame: The New Tsunami of American E-Waste Exports to Asia”, and at the center of its findings lies one of America’s best-known electronics retailers: Best Buy.
“Best Buy claims that it has safely recycled over 2 billion pounds of electronic waste (e-waste) over the years, sending the electronics to partners 'who either refurbish, repurpose or safely recycle the parts by removing environmentally hazardous materials and chemicals and disposing of them using the best and safest practices available.'" Rep. Athena Hollins (DFL-Saint Paul) argues. “In reality, it appears that several electronics retailers, including Best Buy, are allowing their hazardous materials to be exported to Malaysia and other countries, where it is widely known that underpaid workers dismantle toxic electronics in unsafe conditions.”
Key Findings:
BAN’s investigation estimates that between January 2023 and February 2025, more than 10,000 shipping containers — valued at over $1 billion — of U.S. electronic waste were exported to developing countries under dubious pretenses.
The report highlights that containers were tracked to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates — destinations often barred by national laws or international treaty obligations from receiving hazardous e-waste.
Alarmingly, a “large retailer and Fortune 500 company (Best Buy)” was directly implicated via GPS tracking in the report — indicating that the company’s electronic waste collection and "recycling" programs may funnel downstream to brokers that export hazardous waste illegally or irresponsibly.
Although many of the brokers hold the supposedly rigorous “R2 V3” certification intended to ensure responsible recycling, the investigation found evidence that certification was not preventing exports to heavily polluted, unregulated recycling sites.
In regions receiving this exported e-waste, often undocumented workers dismantle electronics in unsafe makeshift conditions — burning plastics, melting wires, inhaling toxins — while downstream companies and lead brands quietly pass on the reputational and environmental risks.
What This Means For Best Buy
Best Buy has long marketed itself as an environmental steward — promoting its in-store recycling kiosks, trade-in programs and commitments to reduce its carbon and waste footprint. Yet the BAN report starkly reveals that such commitments may amount to little more than window-dressing when the actual fate of collected electronics lies in morally and legally dubious export chains.
Put plainly: Best Buy’s clean-looking recycling program may be a camouflage for toxic dumping outsourced overseas. The company claims to take “responsible” e-waste handling seriously — yet its downstream supply chain evidently lacks sufficient oversight, transparency, or accountability.
The Ethical, Environmental and Legal Stakes
Ethical: Best Buy’s customers believe they are doing the right thing by dropping off old electronics — trusting the brand to recycle them safely. That trust is now betrayed.
Environmental: The exported waste ends up in countries lacking infrastructure, regulatory enforcement or protective labor rights — driving pollution, worker exploitation and environmental destruction.
Legal: The U.S. remains one of the few industrialized countries not to ratify the Basel Convention, making exports of hazardous e-waste easier. Yet firms still must abide by downstream due-diligence obligations. BAN’s report signals that Best Buy may be failing in those duties.
Rep. Athena Hollins, a devoted climate and energy advocate and House Bill author of the E-waste bill, demands Best Buy to:
Fully disclose the identities of all downstream recyclers and brokers handling the e-waste it collects — including where shipments are ultimately sent, and how they are treated.
Immediately suspend any designations of recyclers or brokers found to export e-waste to banned or high-risk destinations — and conduct independent audits of all partners.
Commit to a transparent public-facing audit of its electronics-recycling chain — including shipment tracking, treatment destinations, worker safety, and environmental outcomes.
Establish and publish a timeline to guarantee that 100% of collected electronics are processed in fully regulated, documented facilities within the U.S. or in countries with equivalent environmental and labor safeguards.
Until the above are satisfied, halt any consumer or commercial marketing that implies Best Buy’s recycling program ensures safe, domestic disposal.
“Any company that collects electronics from the public and claims to recycle them must guarantee that those materials are handled responsibly, not just for appearance’s sake — but in practice,” Rep. Hollins concludes. ”Best Buy’s failure to ensure this — as laid bare by BAN’s Brokers of Shame — isn’t an oversight: it’s a systemic failure of moral and corporate responsibility.
“Consumers who trusted Best Buy with their old devices deserve better. Minnesotans deserve better. Workers in developing countries deserve better. Best Buy must be held accountable.”
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