Indonesia flooded with electronic waste, claims BAN  

Indonesian media and customs officials report a rapidly growing number of 40-ft sea-going containers piling up after being seized and held in Indonesia’s Batu Ampar port in Batam, south of Singapore.

By early December, 822 containers had been seized, most of which have been illegally exported from the United States, the Basel Action Network (BAN) believes.

‘The three reported consignees of the seized containers – PT Esun International Utama Indonesia, PT Logam International Jaya, and PT Batam Battery Recycle Industries – are all under orders by the Minister of Environment to re-export these shipments back to the US,’ says BAN. ‘Currently, none has done so despite the mayor complaining the Port is running out of space.’

E-waste shipments

BAN has been urging the Indonesian authorities to check incoming shipments of electronic waste on a regular basis. According to BAN, one of the importers, PT Esun International Utama Indonesia, is operated by the ‘already infamous’ Wai Mei Dat/Corporate eWaste Solutions (CEWs) company. It is one of the 10 major US brokers BAN recently named in its exposé titled “Brokers of Shame”.