Where do old phones and computers go to die? More and more, aging motherboards and hard disk drives and touch-screens end up in illegal waste dumps in Hong Kong, according to a blistering report from the Basel Action Network.
China鈥檚 crackdown on corruption has slowed the illegal export of e-waste, much of it from the United States, to southern China, the traditional home of highly polluting electronics recycling sites. That has left more of the toxic material marooned in Hong Kong.
The South China Morning Post鈥檚 Sarah Karacs did an impressive trio of follow-on stories to the Basel Action Network鈥檚 far-reaching report, which was released in May, by poking around Hong Kong鈥檚 New Territories.
The Basel Action Network put GPS tracking devices on dozens of used electronic devices, which were given to designated recycling centers, from Dell to Goodwill. The SCMP then visited the sites where the GPS trackers indicated the goods had ended up and found that seven of the 10 sites were storing electronic waste. 鈥淭here were hives of stripping-down activity by workers, few if any of whom were wearing protective clothing,鈥� Karacs wrote. The SCMP used a drone camera to catch glimpses of the illegal waste dumping grounds.
This is industrial-scale dumping: BAN鈥檚 executive director Jim Puckett says that some 50 to 100 containers of e-waste arrive in Hong Kong every day, with 90 percent of it coming from the U.S. That鈥檚 the equivalent of 50 to 100 trailer trucks of e-waste 鈥� every day.
Sadly, but all too predictably, the dumping sites are concentrated around Tin Shui Wai, a residential enclave known locally as the 鈥榗ity of sadness鈥� for its high rate of suicides and other social problems.
The New Territories are the most lawless part of the former British colony, scene of the third and final of the wars that led to a series of treaties that cemented British control of Hong Kong. The British government never fully asserted control over the area and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region authorities haven鈥檛 had any more success. Much of the New Territories still is zoned as agricultural land, but land-use laws are regularly flouted. Abandoned twenty-foot shipping containers are littered across much of the area, which comprises more than half of Hong Kong鈥檚 total land mass. In purpose-built towns like Tin Shui Wai, people often are too preoccupied with keeping their lives together to fight against the long-term damage posed by toxic waste.
To read the full story, visit .