BAN issues annual report

By Editorial Staff

The Basel Action Network has released its annual report on its 2010 operations, detailing the organization's progress on its three current campaigns, the e-Stewards Certification and financial data.

In BAN's first year of operating as an independent charitable organization, it says its three primary areas of focus are working toward better life-cycle responsibility for electronics; working with the U.S. and other governments and international organizations to ensure better stewardship in shipbreaking operations; and, third, continue its work in defending and implementing the Basel Convention and Basel Ban Amendment.

BAN hired two new executive staff in 2010 and says it plans on further expanding the number of companies participating in the e-Stewards Certification standard or the e-Stewards Enterprise program. The e-Stewards Certification officially launched in April 2010, with three fully-certified processors, a dozen others who were in the process of becoming certified, and 14 Enterprise e-Stewards companies. By the end of 2010, six processors were fully-certified and 23 companies were part of the e-Stewards Enterprise program. By E-Scrap News' tally, the number of certified e-Stewards recycling companies has since grown to 11, as of this writing.

In terms of financials, the report says BAN received nearly $343,000 last year in e-Stewards licensing fees – up from $230,000 the previous year – plus an additional $32,000 in Enterprise licensing fees. In all, year-over-year revenue increased in nearly every category, with the notable exceptions of audit fees for the BAN Pledge of True Stewardship (which is currently being depreciated in favor of e-Stewards Certification) and corporate donations, which fell from over $318,000 in 2009, to just under $119,000 in 2010. Despite this, total year-over-year revenue increased from $1 million in 2009, to over $1.1 million in 2010. Expenses rose as well – from $668,000 to $903,000 in 2010 – but were still low enough for the Seattle-based non-profit organization to transfer nearly $214,000 into reserves.

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