BAN identifies illegal US e-scrap exports

Intervention by the Malaysian authorities uncovered dozens of containers carrying ‘illegally trafficked electronic waste’ from the US after being alerted by the activist group, Basel Action Network (BAN).

BAN places GPS trackers in suspect consignments and uses other techniques to trace the flows of e-waste across the globe. It warned Malaysia that 435 US containers were potentially illegal. The authorities detained 301 and found 106 contained illegal electronic scrap.

Malaysia’s environment minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad thanked BAN for its efforts and noted that another 200 containers had yet to be opened and inspected.

BAN has been active on the issue of e-waste trafficking since 2002 when it first revealed a major export pathway from North America, Europe, and Japan to Guiyu in China. While proper recyclers are popping up, there are still parties smashing and burning computers, printers, and screens in highly polluting operations.

Held to account

‘We welcome the opportunity to assist the Malaysian government with high quality enforcement intelligence so they can do their job to detain these shipments and arrest any accomplices, including company directors and complicit officials on their side,’ says Jim Puckett, BAN executive director. ‘We will also do all we can to see that the US government takes these containers back, and that exporters are held to account.’

BAN argues the task of prosecuting US exporters is difficult because the US has not ratified the Basel Convention. Under the convention, exporting hazardous e-scrap is considered a criminal act.

 Photo © Shutterstock