China sends e-waste back to Japan

Environment officers in Hong Kong have intercepted the largest-ever haul of electronic waste found at the city’s busy container port. Loaded in eight containers on board a vessel from Yokohama in Japan, the material weighed 131 tonnes and comprised some 8000 television sets and computer monitors. Although its destination was listed as Hong Kong, such material often ends up on mainland China.
Environment and customs officers intercepted the shipment at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal on February 12. With the consent of the shipping company and the Japanese authorities, the consignment was returned to Yokohama on another ship. The cargo had been declared in Japan as television sets and computer screens, but the import document quoted audio equipment and air conditioners. A random sample of some 100 items revealed that many had had their power cables cut and their shells removed. The haul included old TV sets dating back to 1993 as well as some manufactured as recently as 2005.
Under the Basel Convention on hazardous waste, which came into effect in 1992, international movement of electronic waste is prohibited unless sanctioned by both the importing and exporting country. The latter is responsible for taking back any illegal shipments.
In this instance, the return of the cargo has pre-empted any move by the importer to use a legal loophole allowing the electronic waste to be held or diverted to other places pending a court ruling. Had the waste landed in the city, it could have been diverted to illegal dismantling yards on the mainland or even locally. However, officials have stressed that local recycling agents rarely disassemble monitors.
Last year, Hong Kong intercepted 115 consignments of electronic waste weighing some 3470 tonnes; of these, some 60 consignments were sent back to their country of origin and officials launched 31 prosecutions. According to a source within Hong Kong’€™s Environmental Protection Department, the Asia-Pacific region was a major source of electronic waste exports, accounting for 66% of cases and 74% by weight.
According to Green Power’€™s Chief Executive Officer Man Chi-sum, Hong Kong is well-known as a gateway to electronics dumping grounds on the mainland. He has urged the government to tighten regulations barring electronic waste that Hong Kong lacks the skills to dismantle – such as pachinko game machines from Japan. ’When the mainland tightens its import rules, any such e-waste in transit through Hong Kong might end up in the city,’€™ he says.