Hong Kong e-waste dumping grounds on lockdown amid fresh scrutiny
Workers at sites in Yuen Long were hostile to visitors and some refused to answer questions when approached by the Post on Saturday
Security has tightened at several toxic electronic waste sites after a Post report sparked a week of rancour between the Environmental Protection Department and a US watchdog.
The open-air sites, where old computers and digital devices are stored and dismantled, are still in operation, and some operators have boarded up holes in walls and ramped up surveillance.
Workers at the sites in poverty-stricken Yuen Long were seen and heard tearing digital detritus apart on Saturday morning, though an obvious clampdown in security meant some were hostile to visitors while others refused to answer questions.
One electronic junkyard saw the clean up and removal of several boxes containing disembowelled computers, though four workers continued to dismantle machinery, without wearing protective gear and tossed smashed parts into large bags.
The sites were identified by environmental watchdog Basel Action Network, earlier this year using GPS trackers attached to broken electronics, revealing that the bulk of electronic waste leaving the US arrives in Hong Kong.
The network then sent details of 47 sites to the Environmental Protection Department and accused it of failing uphold international laws on hazardous waste.
“In June 2016 after the press report about BAN’s findings, we liaised with BAN to obtain information on the concerned sites,” said a spokesperson for the department, back-peddling on comments by principle officer Gary Tam early in the week accusing the network of failing to notify them of the sites.
The spokesperson said that follow up investigations were being conducted, with legal action against two cases being considered, adding: “We ... will further liaise with BAN on how to step up the collaboration efforts”.
Speaking to the Legislative Council this week, Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing said inspections of recycling sites happened “from time to time” to ensure that they were in compliance with pollution control, fire safety and land use laws.
The secretary added that the distinction existing between “hazardous” and “non hazardous” electronic waste legitimised some of the recycling activity taking place in the New Territories, saying “e-waste is generally valuable recyclables and its illegal disposal is uncommon”.
But BAN’s Jim Puckett said Hong Kong’s definition of hazardous waste did not comply with the standards set by the Basel Convention, the treaty to which the SAR is a signatory.
“The sites in question are illegal importers. Almost all of it comes from North America,” he said. “So it is impossible to comprehend why the enforcement effort is not done more than ‘from time to time’.”
