Thread: Thailand is new dumping ground for world's high-tech trash, police say

BANGKOK - Thailand is a new dumping ground for scrap electronics from around the world, say police and environmentalists, the latest country to feel the impact of China's crackdown on imports of high-tech trash.


Police at Laem Chabang port, south of Bangkok, showed on Tuesday seven shipping containers each packed with about 22 tonnes of discarded electronics, including crushed game consoles, computer boards and bags of scrap materials.


Electronic refuse, or e-waste, is turning up from Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, police said, some of it imported by companies without the required permits.




“This ... shows that electronic waste from every corner of the world is flowing into Thailand,” Deputy Police Chief Wirachai Songmetta said as he showed the containers to the media.



Police said they filed charges against three recycling and waste processing companies in Thailand. Anyone found guilty could be jailed for up to 10 years.


“The companies that we have filed charges against don't have a quota to import even a single ton of electronic waste,” Wirachai said.


China imposed a ban on overseas trash last year, telling the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that it would stop accepting imports on 24 types of foreign waste, leading some to fear that the waste could end up in neighbouring countries.


The ban has upended the world's waste handling supply chain and caused massive pile-ups of trash from Asia to Europe, as exporters struggled to find new buyers for the garbage.


According to estimates in China's state media last year, more than 70% of the world's 500 million tonnes of electronic waste entered China in 2016.

Environmentalists say waste once destined for China is being re-routed to South-East Asia, and new laws are needed or existing laws better enforced to prevent illegal imports.

“Especially after China's ban, Thailand could become one of the biggest dumping grounds for e-waste,” said Penchom Saetang, director of Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand (EARTH).

Thailand ratified in 1997 the Basel Convention, which aims to control trans-boundary movements of hazardous waste. But the convention does not
completely prohibit these exports from more developed to less developed countries.

“The Basel Convention cannot prevent what is happening in Thailand because it has its limitations,” Penchon said in calling for an amendment that would ban these shipments.

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha vowed this week to step up nationwide inspections as part of a plan to combat illegal electronic waste. But environmentalists say they have not seen the details of how it will work.

“It isn't clear how he will do this,” said Penchom.

Thailand is new dumping ground for world's high-tech trash, police say, Asia News - AsiaOne

One man's trash is another man's fortune.

Can't they just incinerate it at high temperatures?

Thai Police Crack Down on Firms Dumping Hazardous Electronics Waste

Thai authorities said Thursday they planned to seek maximum prison sentences against waste processing companies that have imported tons of hazardous electronic waste (e-waste) to remove gold and other valuable elements and then dump the rest, including toxic materials.


Police, army, industrial and customs officials raided several companies in industrial parks in Thailand’s eastern provinces last week and displayed more than 150 tons of confiscated electronic gear at a port in Chonburi province, south of Bangkok, on Tuesday.


In addition, hundreds of migrant workers from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia were brought to Thailand to melt lead and extract gold from electronics circuitry, which also contain mercury, cadmium and other toxic substances. Many of the companies operating without proper licenses are owned by Chinese and other foreigners, officials said.


“We will take a legal action against company owners who imported illegal electronic waste to Thailand calling for a maximum 10-year sentence, 500,000 baht (U.S. $15,600) fine or both,” Deputy Police Chief Wirachai Songmetta told reporters in Bangkok.


“We plan to inspect more electronic waste companies,” he said. “We will also file criminal charges against government officials who are involved with these as well.”


Seven shipping containers targeted in the raid were from Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan, and linked to companies in Chachoengsao province, officials said. Police said they filed charges against three firms, according to Reuters.


After China banned the import of e-waste last year, investors relocated their processing operations to Thailand, according to Customs Deputy Director General Sorasak Meenatoree.

“They started illegally importing high-tech trash, categorized useful parts to export to China and let the unrecycled waste to be trashed in Thailand,” he said.


Neighbors had complained about the effects of water and air pollution from the companies and worried that toxic leaks would harm the environment, officials said. Water samples were being collected around the companies to determine if they were polluted.


“If the result shows toxics from the companies affect the community, we will estimate the damage and consider filing for compensation,” said Sunee Piyapanpong, Thailand’s director of pollution control.


Thailand ratified the Basel Convention in 1997 to control the international flow and disposal of hazardous waste, in an effort to curb much of the exports from more developed to less developed countries.


“Only seven registered companies are allowed to import a total of 117,000 tons of electronic waste per year,” said Banjong Sukreeta, deputy director-general of the Department of Industrial Works.


https://www.benarnews.org/english/ne...018161513.html

Tons of illegally imported plastic waste found in Lat Krabang district

BANGKOK, 1st June 2018 (NNT) - Authorities have confiscated four containers holding tons of untreated plastic waste during a raid at Lat Krabang Industrial Park in Bangkok.

Police, led by deputy national police chief Pol Gen Weerachai Songmetta, and officials from the Department of Industrial Works and the Thai Customs Department have discovered 58 tons plastic waste allegedly imported by Long Luck Plastic and Metal Co., Ltd.

The shipments were sent from 35 countries, including the US, the UK, Germany, South Korea, China and Iran without a permit from the Ministry of Commerce. Inspections showed the imports have yet to undergo the management procedures involving systematic sanitization and sorting as required by the Ministry of Industry.

Police are preparing to press charges against the importer for violating industrial and customs laws. An importer of untreated plastic waste faces a fine equivalent to five times the value of imports and a jail term of up to 10 years. A person found guilty of a false declaration under the customs act faces a fine of 500,000 baht.


http://thainews.prd.go.th/website_en...C6106020010019

Thailand could become the garbage bin of the world, an expert on waste management and environmental protection has warned, as the government's policies to promote the waste-to-energy industry have already resulted in plastic waste imports to the country.
Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand director Penchom Saetang said the country's recent waste management trends run counter to correct waste management methods.
The government's current path will prevent a proper solution to waste management problems and unintentionally lead to waste from other countries being dumped in Thailand, she said.
Penchom singled out for criticism the promotion of private investment in small waste-to-energy projects across the country.
"Waste-to-energy is one of the most polluting methods for both waste management and power generation, because not only will burning garbage emit toxic pollutants, but the leftover ashes are also very hazardous and require very careful disposal in a secured landfill. And so building many small waste-to-energy plants is a very bad decision," Penchom said.
"I do not contest the advantages of waste-to-energy, as it is one of the acceptable measures to deal with unrecyclable waste, but we should have only a few big waste-to-energy plants that are properly equipped with all pollution control measures," she added.


Highlighting her concern over the small-size waste-to-energy projects now being promoted by the government, Penchom said it was not cost-effective for the investors to install expensive pollution-control systems. They are forced to reduce the money spent on environmental protection in order to keep their investment profitable.
According to the five-year waste management master plan, local administrative organisations are required to manage waste.
However, the private sector is also encouraged to invest in waste disposal plants, based on the assumption that they are more able and ready to properly oversee waste disposal.
Forty-four provinces meet the criteria, allowing them to initiate private-sector investment in waste-to-energy plants.
Those criteria include the availability of a feed-in powerline, ability to ensure a feedstock of at least 300 tonnes of garbage.
In contrast, a total of 102 areas in 49 provinces have the capacities for investment in refuse-derived fuel (RDF) processing plants.
For the less populated areas that have below 50 tonnes of waste generated per day, the authorities and residents are advised to locally process their waste into fertiliser and bury the leftover garbage in a local sanitary landfill.
As of the end of 2017, the Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency Department reported that there were 15 waste-to-energy plants operating - both biogas plants and waste incinerators - and generating a total 42.82 megawatts of electricity.
Nine of these waste-to-energy plants in Bangkok, Phuket, Samut Prakan, Tak, Saraburi, and Khon Kaen are waste incinerators operated by private companies.
Lack of waste segregation was another big problem that needed addressing to properly operate a waste-to-energy plant in Thailand, Penchom said.
The waste-to-energy plants in Hat Yai and Phuket, were burning all kinds of garbage for power, without segregation to pull out less flammable materials, thus causing serious environmental problems and also damaging the operational system of the plants, she said.
To get a better burn, "the operators of these plants then turn to external sources of higher quality waste and import plastic waste from other countries as fuel to supply the operation of their plants and keep their business running", she said.
If the trend continues, "Thailand will eventually be the waste disposal hub of the world, leaving only hazardous ashes, sicknesses from pollution and a contaminated environment for Thai people".
Plastic waste smuggling to Thailand is already underway, as demonstrated by recent media reports after officers on May 30 found four containers of plastic waste at Laem Chabang Seaport.
It was later identified that these plastic wastes had originated from 35 countries.
Penchom urged the related agencies not to prioritise generating electricity from waste, but to instead correctly tackle the country's waste by first reducing, reusing and recycling before turning the remaining unrecyclable waste into energy.
In an update on the progress of the country's waste management masterplan, inspector of Local Administration Department Suwit Chanhuan said that 5,731 local administrative organisations have already grouped together with nearby counterparts to form 324 clusters for the efficient enhancement of waste management.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se...ste-management

"Hub of Shite". They may have finally become the epi-centre of something then.

As it's usual to cut corners in any activities they tackle, I'm not surprised they clogged their incinerators.

For the same reason, I agree with the OP about smaller waste burning facilities not being willing/able to prevent pollution dissemination from their activities

Originally Posted by Farang Ky Ay

As it's usual to cut corners in any activities they tackle, I'm not surprised they clogged their incinerators.

For the same reason, I agree with the OP about smaller waste burning facilities not being willing/able to prevent pollution dissemination from their activities

Thainess.

Originally Posted by TuskegeeBen

(possessing some “voodoo” magic wand) for a President

yeah - case he was black , dickhead

everyone knows that dem niggas know voodoo

E-waste shunned by China piles up in Thailand

Plastic and electronic waste banned from import by China is now engulfing Thailand, the Customs Department spokesman said Wednesday.

Chaiyut Khamkhun said that in the whole of last year, 145,000 tonnes ...

MORE https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/gen...up-in-thailand

Originally Posted by TuskegeeBen

If that ^ is truly your considered opinion, then why am I still looking at a Thailand Expat streamer,

prominently stated above your avatar, there......."Spanky" boy. A bit of a hypocrite Expat, residing in Thailand, eh?

Irony is not your strong suite, obviously. Condescending idiocy more your thing, perhaps.

^ Babbling shit is his strong point.

Originally Posted by bobo746

^ Babbling shit is his strong point.

That would imply the presence of other points.

260,000 tonnes of electronic and plastic trash imported in 5 months

About 260,000 tonnes of trash, including 52,200 tonnes of electronic trash, were imported into Thailand during the January-May period this year compared to 116,000 tonnes imported for the whole of last year, said Customs Department spokesman Mr Chaiyuth Khamkhun.


He attributed the substantial increase of imported wastes, especially from China, to the Chinese government’s ban on the importation of electronic trash and plastic trash for recycling.


In anticipation of the rising trend of electronic trash and plastic trash to be imported from China and Hong Kong, Mr Chaiyuth said that a joint working group of the Customs and Industrial Works departments had decided to adopt six measures under the Basel Convention to control import of the two types of trash especially from China, which include the requirement that all containers of imported trash be X-rayed instead of random check as was the case in the past.


Since the adoption of tougher measures, he said Customs officials had checked 73 suspicious containers and were in the process of returning 40 containers to countries of origin after five trash separation plants had their licenses suspended for defying trash import conditions.


Of the 40 containers to be sent back, he said 33 of them were falsely declared to contain metallic trash.


He disclosed that some unscrupulous importers had stuffed electronic trash in containers declared to contain metallic trash, making it difficult for customs officials to intercept electronic trash because inspection of metallic trash is not as tough as inspection of electronic trash.
260,000 tonnes of electronic and plastic trash imported in 5 months - Thai PBS English News

Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

Thailand could become the garbage bin of the world

Originally Posted by DJ Pat

For quality tourists and expat teachers as well

How about intermittently employed djs?

Played a load of garbage mostly

They were quite good.

I got plenty of stupid girls into bed in those days

Originally Posted by kmart

Irony is not your strong suite, obviously. Condescending idiocy more your thing, perhaps.

You're a typical doughboy, there Spanky. Great at dishing-out a lot of shite, but not so great at taking it, eh?


Now, regarding any level of perceived idiocy on my part, an intelligent person would simply ignore me, rather than attack me with some pathetic,

single-sentence critiques, of whatever I may happen to post. Apparently the condescending idiocy, your part "Spanky", is on a par level with mine, in your considered opinion, eh?


I don't live the bulk of my life on the TD platform, it takes a few days to get back to the nice folks like yourself, and several others on the TD platform.


Granted, I'm not the best English composition writer on the platform, and I do get carried away, on verbose tangents, more often than not.

But at least I make an attempt to contribute something pertinent to a topic thread, rather than surfing every single topic, like some slithering pit-viper,

searching for a victim, toward whom I can readily spit-out the venom my miserable life upon.


Some of you blokes should really be ashamed of yourselves, for the way you behave toward others, on this platform. I berate no one, on this platform.

I don't need to, simply because I have nothing I need to prove, eh?

Kindly, have a nice person's life, for the duration. And likewise to your buddy, that (single-sentence) spewing clown, well-posted beneath you, as well. Cheers.

^You're actually correct with the statement; "an intelligent person would simply ignore me".. Fair play.