Waste Crime - Waste Risks: Gaps in Meeting the Global Waste Challenge

New e-waste trafficking routes in Southeast Asia The example of CRT televisions exported from Japan

JAPAN

CHINA

HONG KONG

CRT television exports

Origin

Traditional destination

2006

VIETNAM

MYANMAR

New destination

2011

THAILAND

PHILIPPINES

Thousands of pieces

CAMBODIA

500

1 500

100

50 or less

Same quantity in 2006 and 2011

Three stops to China

Hong Kong’s decline as an e-waste hub? E-waste containers intercepted by Hong Kong customs

Shipment of 72 thousand tonnes of e-waste from Japan, 2014

120

100

Liaoning province

SOUTH KOREA

80

JAPAN

60

CHINA

Monitors Batteries

40

Guangdong province

20

Country of origin

Transit point

0

HONG KONG

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2012 2013

Destination

C ARTOGRAPHY BY R ICCARDO P RAVETTONI ©GRID-A RENDAL 2015

Sources: Keli Yu, Regional Risk Assessment of Illegal E-waste Trade in Asia, 2014

New patterns

traditional routes for illegal waste shipments. For example, Vietnam has been a transit country for movement of discarded CRT televisions and other household appliances to China. The illegal goods were transported to the Mong Cai border gate, where they were carried over the border river into Dongxing, China, close to China’s biggest informal recy-

Stringent enforcement in one country commonly leads to changes in traditional illegal shipment routes through neigh- bouring countries. Strong enforcement practices, such as China’s Green Fence campaign, have been changing the

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