The waste trade watchdog Basel Action Network (BAN) is warning of what appears to be another wave of illegal e-waste trafficking that is now finding its way to Malaysia.
Investigations by BAN reveal a pathway of e-wastes from across the U.S. being exported primarily out of the port of Los Angeles on container ships to Malaysia. BAN has recently warned authorities in Malaysia of specific incoming shipments following a recent spate of raids in Malaysia, shutting down clandestine and illegal e-waste dismantling operations. It is illegal for Malaysia to receive any hazardous electronic waste from the U.S. or other developed countries.
“As we have recently found with respect to plastic waste, Malaysia is becoming the target country of choice for illegal traders of e-waste from the U.S. and Canada,” said BAN’s executive director Jim Puckett. “It is a shameful development, but it appears we are playing whack-a-mole – we have shut down exports to mainland China, then Hong Kong, and now they have turned to Southeast Asia as the electronics industry, rather than properly managing their wastes at home, seek out new global hiding places.”
- The most recent of these raids took place on March 21 in Petaling Jaya where authorities found an e-waste break-down factory the size of five football fields hidden deep inside an oil palm estate, operating six kilometers from any main road. The site had been operational for five years. Police arrested 50 persons and seized many tons of electronic waste. The laborers from Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, and Nepal were believed to be illegal immigrants.
- On March 19, in a similar raid near Port Klang, the Malaysian Immigration Department found another e-waste dismantling operation where the equivalent of about 105,000 US dollars in cash and arrested 48 persons including Board members, the director, and owner. The raid was conducted following complaints by members of the public. 38 of the labor force were Myanmar nationals and suspected of being illegal immigrants, and some were underage. The workers lived on the site.
- On February 21, a raid on a clandestine factory at Sungai Linggi, Seremban, turned up another unregistered operation and an estimated 200 tonnes of e-waste, believed to have been shipped in from the U.S. and China via Port Klang, which was then seized by authorities. Officials said the entire operation was run illegally by Chinese nationals who had hired about 60 other foreigners, assumed to be illegal immigrants.