DOJ Releases Report on UNICOR’s Electronics Recycling Program

The Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has released a detailed report titled “Review of Federal Prison Industries’ Electronic-Waste Recycling Program” that addresses concerns over the operation of Unicor, Federal Prison Industries’ electronics recycling program.

The report, four years in the making, found a multitude of violations by Unicor.

Unicor is a government corporation within the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) that provides employment to staff and inmates at federal prisons throughout the United States. Starting in 1997, Unicor began performing electronic scrap recycling at federal prisons.

Unicor's electronic scrap recycling program, however, resulted in complaints from BOP and Unicor staff and inmates. In particular, according to the report, complaints asserted that Unicor’s recycling practices were not safe and made its staff and inmates ill. Because of the complaints, the OIG conducted an investigation of Unicor’s electronic scrap recycling operations as well as other allegations of theft.

The investigation found that prior to 2009, Unicor's management of the electronic scrap recycling program resulted in numerous violations of health, safety and environmental laws, regulations and BOP policies. In its report, released Oct. 21, 2010, the OIG concluded that Unicor's headquarters staff poorly managed its electronic scrap program prior to 2009. Staff members often failed to perform hazard assessments on new electronic scrap operations or did so incorrectly, and important health and safety information was not shared with BOP executives and safety staff that could have prevented violations.

The OIG report also found that managers in Uncior's Recycling Business Group concealed warnings about hazards related to toxic metals from Unicor, BOP staff and inmates.

The report notes that even after the hazards of electronic scrap recycling were clearly identified to the leadership of Unicor's Recycling Business Group in 2002, Unicor was slow to make necessary changes. Unicor sought advice from BOP safety staff concerning issues on which the staff was not qualified to provide assistance, and at times Unicor failed to promptly act on the requests of safety managers when the requests conflicted with its business priorities.

The consequence was that Unicor and BOP staff and inmates were needlessly exposed to cadmium and lead during recycling activities, according to the report.

Overall, the DOJ says it found a culture at Unicor that did not sufficiently value worker safety and environmental protection. The DOJ says it has determined that the flawed organization and poor communication between Unicor and the BOP made compliance difficult to achieve even with the best-intentioned employees.

The DOJ’s investigation also identified numerous systemic deficiencies in Unicor's and the BOP’s operations that jeopardized its ability to comply with applicable health, safety and environmental requirements. These include a lack of technical resources as well as weak oversight of Unicor's operations by the BOP and DOJ.

The OIG report found numerous instances of staff misconduct and performance failures, including actions that endangered staff and inmates, such as dishonesty, dereliction of duty and theft, among others. In all, the OIG concluded that 11 Unicor and BOP employees committed either misconduct or performance failures in their work related to the electronic scrap recycling program.

Despite the problems found during the investigation, the OIG found that Unicor started instituting significant health and safety improvements to its recycling operations, primarily to control exposures to toxic metals, in June 2003. Since then, Unicor has made substantial progress to improve the safety of its electronic scrap operations.

The improvements included changes to cathode ray tube (CRT) glass breaking methods in 2003 and 2004, enhanced staff and inmate training starting in late 2003, development of written operating standards by 2004 and formalized job orientation training for inmates in 2005. Unicor also has improved its exposure monitoring at its factories over time, according to DOJ.

The report determined that by 2009, with limited exceptions, Unicor's electronic scrap operations (including CRT glass breaking activities) were compliant with OSHA requirements and were being operated safely, though several agencies that assisted in the investigation recommended additional improvements.

Moreover, in 2009 Unicor hired Robert Tonetti as its general manager for its Recycling Business Group. The report notes that Tonetti, with more than 30 years of work experience for the Environmental Protection Agency, initiated changes that the OIG says it believes will further improve health, safety and environmental practices.

Despite improvements made in Unicor's operations, the OIG, along with the agencies that assisted in the investigation, say that additional improvements are still needed.

Following the release of the report, the Union for Federal Prison Officers released a statement critical of Unicor. "The inspector general's findings are in line with what we've been saying for years," says Bryan Lowry, president of the Council of Prison Locals. "Our staff members were exposed to dangerous levels of toxic metals, which BOP knew about and allowed to continue. The inspector general must hold BOP and Unicor managers accountable for their actions and put appropriate safety measures in place to protect our staff."

Also responding to the report, the Basel Action Network released a statement calling for consumers to only use e-Stewards qualified recyclers that will not export hazardous wastes to developing countries and will not use prisoner labor for managing it.

The full report is available at http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/BOP/o1010.pdf.