NST Leader: Of e-waste and 'importers'

New Straits Times

21-05-2025

When it comes to e-waste, we have been hearing one refrain for the longest time: container importers are misrepresenting their contents. Yet we do not hear of fraudulent importers being severely punished.
So long as this leniency persists, expect the importers to continue to falsely declare the contents of the containers and get away with it. Most of them are not importers but members of global smuggling syndicates.
We appreciate the government's desire to ensure that Malaysia doesn't become a dumping ground for developed nations' e-waste. But desire must be followed by right actions.
The first right action is to begin at home by making fraudulent importers pay heavily for their crime. Such crooks of commerce must have their licence revoked. Period.
We will be glad to be proved wrong, but we have yet to hear any importer's licence being revoked after all these years of "importers misrepresenting their containers' contents". Why are we so coy when it comes to punishing people who practise such crass commerce?
The next right action is to send the container back to where it came from. Here, our authorities deserve applause aplenty.
We have been repeatedly told that all seized containers were sent back to the countries of origin. But we must remember, not all e-waste containers were seized. Many have gotten away, with their "importers" coming for repeat business. Blame it on less-than-robust enforcement.
Puzzlingly, there are some Malaysians who are advocating the import of e-waste, arguing that such a move would put us on a "green" path. Little do they realise that not all of the e-waste can be processed; most of it is dumped, causing environmental damage of the dangerous kind.
E-waste is toxic. Ask China why they banned e-waste imports in 2018. Not because of some peculiar ideology, but because of sane concerns about the health of its people and the environment. Our actions must reflect such sane concerns for our people and the environment.
However, returning e-waste containers is after the fact. Malaysia must act before the illegal e-waste lands here. Now that we know that most of the e-waste is from Japan and the United States, there must be serious government-to-government discussions to get the countries to keep their waste at home.
After all, such a move will be very much in line with international law and shipping regulations, the Basel Convention being one.
Greenpeace Malaysia's campaign lead, Heng Kiah Chun, put it best to this newspaper on Tuesday: "No country should be treated as a dumping ground. Each country must take responsibility for managing its own waste." Malaysia has enough of its own e-waste to manage without bearing the burden of others.
As pointed out by Heng, our post-consumer e-waste management system is in its infancy. For a nation that produces tonnes of e-waste, that is too early a stage to be in.
Finally, Malaysia must join the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia to push for global e-waste accountability of electronic manufacturers. Their responsibility doesn't end with the sale of their equipment, but extends to collection, repair and reuse, says Greenpeace Malaysia. We agree.