PITTSBURGH -- An environmental group said old computers and other electronics were not recycled after being dropped off by thousands of western Pennsylvanians in a recent recycling drive operated by local charities.

Below is a transcript of Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons' report that aired May 26, 2009, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

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Basel Action Network, of Seattle, says it sent volunteers to Pittsburgh in March and April to watch the warehouses where EarthEcycle stores all of the old electronics it collects. Basel Action claims it was able to track the shipments of the material to Hong Kong. The eventual destination? Vietnam, where Basel Action claims the electronics would be stripped for materials, then dumped.

But there's another side to this story -- a flat denial of dumping by the company doing the collecting.

This warehouse in Monroeville is packed from floor to ceiling with old computers and other used-up electronics. Most of it comes from a recent recycling drive conducted by a company called EarthEcycle in cooperation with the Humane Society of Western Pennsylvania.

Lee Nesler, Humane Society: "We never dreamt that this event would be so big. We're probably going to make $150,000 on this event because of all the electronics that came in."

The question is, where are the electronics going?

Nesler: "We did know that some of it would be shipped out of the country."

Nesler says she called the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to make sure EarthEcycle wasn't violating state law. The DEP says it wasn't.

Helen Humphreys, DEP: "Our inspectors did see evidence that the material was being sorted as you would expect it to be if, in fact, it was going to be de-manufactured in an appropriate manner."

Basel Action Network claims EarthEcycle had no intention of recycling the electronics, but sold them for profit and shipped them to developing countries, where some other companies have used local workers to strip the computers and dump them, with the hazardous chemicals still inside.

Ned Eldridge, eLoop LLC: "Their version of recycling isn't taking care of every waste stream. That's a byproduct of what they're doing. What they do is basically harvest. They harvest parts and leave the rest behind."

But EarthEcycle president Jeff Nixon, a Pittsburgh native who now lives in Oklahoma, says that's not what his company is doing with the e-waste.

Nixon: "We don't sell anything for dumping overseas at all. We don't agree with any dumping, nationwide or worldwide."

Nixon: "All of it, one way or another, is going to be recycled. None of it is going to go to a dump."

EarthEcycle plans another collection drive for your old computers later this week. They'll be collecting for Make-A-Wish Foundation at Cranberry Mall.

I asked Nixon how he can be sure that his company's e-waste isn't being stripped and dumped once it is overseas and sold to another company. He acknowledges that he is taking those companies at their word that they don't dump.

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