🌱 What can happen to e-waste after it is disposed of?
Many countries are not equipped with suitable infrastructure to properly manage their e-waste. E-waste is notably not that easy to recycle as it has a “complex composition including toxic chemicals, metals, plastics and elements that cannot be easily separated and recycled”. According to the UN, “only around 15% of the world’s e-waste is recycled”. This also means that there are companies that offload e-waste in irresponsible manners, such as by passing it onto middlemen who then illegally move the e-waste abroad. According to the UN, countries in Southeast Asia are a major destination for e-waste. As some of these countries have strengthened their measures against waste trafficking over the past few years, more e-waste is now also making its way to countries in Africa.
🌱 Is the trafficking of e-waste increasing?
According to the UN, there is “a significant rise in the trafficking of e-waste from developed countries and rapidly emerging economies”. From May to June 2024 alone, officials seized 106 containers of e-waste in Malaysia. The World Customs Organisation has found e-waste to now be “the most frequently seized item”. The organization has also found that there has been “an increase of almost 700% in [the] trafficking of end-of-life motor vehicles”, which are a considerable source of e-waste. Overall, one in six of all types of waste seizures globally are seizures of e-waste. At the port of Naples in Italy, even around 30% of all seizures are of e-waste.
🌱 How does the trafficking of e-waste work?
The traffickers of e-waste “often outsmart authorities with new smuggling tactics”. Traffickers often mis-declare e-waste or hide it amongst other items. Some traffickers grind down e-waste and then mix it in with plastic flakes. This is done in an attempt to conceal the e-waste and then export it with paperwork for pure plastic waste. Sometimes, broken vehicle parts and other e-waste are stacked inside car containers. Often times, broken electronics are “wrongly declared as reusable”. In reality, these are “broken down for precious metals and then illegally burnt after they reach the destination”.
🌱 Is trafficked e-waste dumped into the ocean?
It is not uncommon for ships illegally carrying e-waste or other hazardous waste to turn off their beacon in the middle of the sea, when they cannot offload their waste at their usual destination. This is done to avoid detection. It is an ordinary part of organized waste crime to then dump the illegal waste shipments at sea.
Read more about e-waste trafficking here:
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gvq1rd0geo
- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17440572.2023.2217101
- https://ewastemonitor.info/gtf-2022/
- https://www.unodc.org/documents/bmb/environmental-crime/FINAL_for_printing_-_Turning_the_tide.pdf
- https://weee-forum.org/projects-campaigns/cwit/