PORTLAND, Ore. — A recycler who participated in Oregon’s E-Cycles program agreed to pay $553,750 after getting caught illegally shipping hazardous electronics overseas.
The deal resolves a long-running investigation into Seattle-based Total Reclaim, which received taxpayer funds to help clean up potentially toxic electronics in Oregon.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and the Oregon Department of Justice alleged Total Reclaim Inc. falsely certified that it complied with the E-Cycle’s program procedures. In reality, state investigators claim the company used a broker to illegally ship millions of pounds of electronic waste, like flat screen monitors, to unregulated operations in Hong Kong.
A nonprofit known as the Basel Action Network discovered the export of electronic waste after installing GPS tracking devices in electronics that had been deposited for recycling. The tracking devices showed the monitors, collected by Total Reclaim, were being sent overseas.
State officials said Total Reclaim was responsible for this illegal shipping for nearly seven years while fraudulently billing the E-Cycles program.
Craig Lorch, co-owner of Total Reclaim, provided the following statement to KGW by email:
"I don’t have any comment specifically regarding the settlement between Total Reclaim and the State of Oregon. The conduct in question – exportation of flat screen monitors that Total Reclaim customers paid the company to process domestically according to specified handling standards -- ceased immediately after discovery in December 2015. The company and its owners have subsequently cooperated fully with regulators in Washington and Oregon to resolve related administrative enforcement actions and also cooperated fully with federal authorities in their investigation and will continue to do so."
Lorch and co-owner Jeff Zirkle pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal court in Seattle in November 2018. The two men could face up to five years in prison.