GPS Trackers Reveal E-Waste Exports from the U.S. to Hong Kong

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Green Tracking Service (GTS) run by California-based Dennis Ward Enterprises (DWE) concluded that majority of illegal e-waste exports from the U.S. ended up in Hong Kong. The study involved as many as 170 wireless trackers in various devices collected for recycling across the country over the past two years.

The GPS trackers were implanted into electronic devices, mainly in West Coast, Midwest and East Coast regions. The first report of the tracking study released recently indicates that 95% of the trackers stayed within the country, with 5% leaving the country. The study finds that out of the 5% GTS Trackers that left the U.S., only 11% entered Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, whereas the majority of 89% entered non-OECD countries.

Also, out of the 89% entering the non-OECD countries, Hong Kong accounted for 50%, followed by Malaysia with 25%, Pakistan with 13% and China with 12%. The e-waste that ended up in Hong Kong and China were laptops. Those e-wastes that ended up in Pakistan were desktops, whereas the tracked e-waste that came to Malaysia comprised of e-scrap plastic. Also, of the 11% electronic devices that entered OECD countries, 100% ended up in Spain.

The trackers were deployed in late 2017 and early 2018 in covered electronic devices such as laptops, desktops, e-plastics and monitors. The study produced an initial baseline for e-waste flows based on a small sample.