The Draft Technical Guidelines of 22 September 2010 contains a section called "About E-waste". Citing a study by Yu Xiezhi et al (2008) the section states, "about 50-80% of the E-waste [sic] from industrialized countries ends up in South-east Asia for cheap recycling" [Draft Technical Guidelines of 22 September 2010, p. 5].

The paper by Yu Xiezhi et al cites BAN and a UN pamphlet that itself cites BAN as the source of the 50-80% figure.

See: Xiezhi, Yu, Zennegg Markus, Engwall Magnus, Rotander Anna, Larrson Maria, Wong Ming Hung, and Weber Roland. 2008. ‘E-Waste Recycling Heavily Contaminates a Chinese City with Chlorinated, Brominated and Mixed Halogenated Dioxins’. Organohalogen Compounds 70: 813–816.

For the UN pamphlet, see: Schwarzner, S., A. De Bono, and P. Peduzzi. 2005. ‘E-Waste, the Hidden Side of IT Equipment’s Manufacturing and Use’. http://www.grid.unep.ch/product/publication/download/ew_ewaste.pdf.

The commentary submitted by BAN on the Draft Technical Guidelines states:

"I [Jim Puckett] would check this quote [referring to the Yu Xiezhi et al study] or perhaps find another, because it does not take into account the amount that goes into landfills/incinerators nor the amount that is in storage. Also it assumes so much going to South-East Asia, when in our experience the vast majority of wastes directed to Asia goes to South Asia or China. BAN is largely responsible for the 80 % figure that is found in the literature today. That figure was introduced in our report Exporting Harm (2002) and came from an industry insider/consultant in the United States who is very knowledgable about the e-waste marketplace. We needed to use an industry estimate because the data, to this day does not exist. However the figure is for amount of e-waste that after being delivered to a recycler is exported to a non-OECD country such as China."

From p. 5 of BAN response to Basel Secretariat. 2010. ‘Draft Technical Guidelines on Transboundary Movement of E-Waste, in Particular Regarding the Distinction between Waste and Non-Waste (Version 22 September 2010)’. http://www.basel.int/Implementation/Ewaste/TechnicalGuidelines/DevelopmentofTGs/tabid/2377/Default.aspx.