GPS Trackers Exposes Fresh Instances of Illegal E-Waste Exports

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Basel Action Network (BAN) released a new report that highlights ongoing illegal e-waste exports from Australia. This is based on the tracking information from 35 GPS trackers embedded within non-functional electronic waste equipment across Australia. The illegal export of hazardous e-waste was identified to have flown to developing countries.

According to BAN, three of the devices appear to have been exported. The tracking data revealed that two LCD monitors from Brisbane area were shipped to Hong Kong’s New Territories area, which is infamous for primitive e-waste handling and e-waste trafficking. Also, one of them was found to have been re-exported to an e-waste processing facility in Thailand. The two LCDs originated at Officeworks store locations in Brisbane area. Surprisingly, Officeworks is the government-sanctioned e-waste drop-off location that public uses to dispose of their e-waste.  The third device, an LCD from another government-approved e-waste drop-off facility was moved to Brisbane port, for likely export, BAN said.

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The report also states that 5 out of the 35 devices ended up in solid waste landfills. Only 14 were shipped to local recyclers.

The BAN report recommends that the Australian government should do the needful action to educate all of its collection points and recyclers about the categories of waste that comes under hazardous waste as per Basel Convention. It must ensure that all recyclers in the country are e-Stewards certified. Further, Officeworks should be investigated and prosecuted for the alleged violation. In addition, Asian countries should strictly prohibit the import of hazardous waste including e-wastes.

Similar GPS Tracking studies conducted by BAN had revealed illegal e-waste exports from the US and Europe to South Asian and South East Asian countries.