Thai officials seize over 200 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from the US

BANGKOK AP Thai authorities on Wednesday noted they seized tons of illegally imported electronic waste from the United States at the port of Bangkok one of the biggest lots they ve discovered this year The waste which came in large containers was declared as mixed metal scrap but turned out to be circuit boards mixed in a huge pile of metal scrap explained Theeraj Athanavanich director-general of the Customs Department The waste was detected on Tuesday after the containers became the subject of a routine random inspection officers noted A U N assessment last year declared electronic waste is piling up worldwide Particular million tons of electronic waste was generated in and that figure is on track to reach million tons by the document explained It disclosed only of the waste was properly collected and recycled in and that quantity is expected to fall to by the end of the decade due to higher consumption limited repair options shorter product life cycles and inadequate management infrastructure Theeraj explained Thai agents are looking to press charges including falsely declaring imported goods illegally importing electronic waste and planning to re-export the waste back to its country of origin It s vital that we take action on this kind of goods he declared There are environmental impacts that are dangerous to the people especially communities around factories that might import these things for processing then recycling Electronic waste creates huge wellbeing hazards A great number of components are laden with lead and mercury cadmium and other toxins Recyclers are after gold silver palladium and copper mainly from printed circuit boards but lax controls mean that facilities often burn plastics to release encased copper and use unsafe methods to extract precious metals Thailand passed a ban on the import of a range of electronic waste products in The Cabinet in February approved an expanded list of the banned waste Sunthron Kewsawang deputy director-general of the Department of Industrial Works explained administrators suspected at least two factories in Samut Sakhon province which borders Bangkok are involved in importing the waste In January the Customs Department revealed it seized tons of illegally imported electronic waste from Japan and Hong Kong at a port in eastern Thailand Source