Keep it out

Because they spell disaster

MALAYSIA is fast becoming a wasteland. And an ewaste-land at that. Our country is being used as a dumping ground for unwanted mobile phones, computers, televisions, copiers, fax machines and other electronic gadgets. Not much is known about the shippers other than that the e-waste is from Europe, Australia, Canada and the United States, countries that are proud signatories to the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Waste and their Disposal 1989 (Basel Convention). The Basel Convention is very clear on ewaste disposal: it must be disposed of in the country where it is generated. Notwithstanding this, the e-waste originators remain oblivious to it.

The developed countries cannot pretend not to notice because the volume of the waste is humongous. According to a 2019 report prepared for the World Economic Forum, 48.5 million tonnes of e-waste were produced last year alone. This is equivalent to the weight of all the commercial aircraft ever built! If nothing is done, this figure is going to hit 120 million tonnes in 2050. That will be like burying more than 300,000 747 jumbo jets in landfills. And if Malaysia does not take drastic steps to stop the transboundary movement of ewaste, much of it is going to head our way as it has done since China banned its import on Dec 31, 2017.

But drastic action by Malaysia may run into a few hurdles. Like the black economy, not much is known about the importers and where the e-waste is processed or dumped. What we know is shipping documents are falsified to bring it into the country as scrap metal or other importable materials. The fraudulent importers fill the first quarter of the containers with metal scrap and the rest with e-waste to avoid detection. A source at the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry (MESTECC) confirms this to be the case. Due diligence will require the unpacking of every container at every port in the country. Thousands of robots may be needed for such country-wide inspection. In the absence of such machines, MESTECC’s solution has to be more manpower.

Nevertheless, Malaysia needs to act fast. A good place to start is to give the law a bigger and harder bite. MESTECC is understood to be working on amendments to the Environmental Quality Act 1974 to handle the growing threat of ewaste. The EQA 1974, as currently enforced, imposes imprisonment of five years and a fine of RM500,000. This is clearly inadequate. The fraudulent importers are literally getting away with murder. Because e-waste is toxic and causes our slow death by accumulating in the environment, in the soil, air, water and living things.

But the best solution is to impose a ban on imports of all forms of waste. Just like China. There may be money to be made in waste, but we should not kill ourselves to earn it. Before the ban, China was the world’s largest importer of trash. Waste import turned China into a major polluter. There is a lesson for Malaysia here.

And it must be learned pretty soon.

According to a 2019 report prepared for the World Economic Forum, 48.5 million tonnes of e-waste were produced last year alone.