(14 May 2025)
ASSOCIATED PRESS -
Bangkok, Thailand - 14 May 2025
1. Wide of container at Bangkok port with electronic waste inside and officials and port workers surrounding
2. Close of port worker opening container
3. Various of officials digging through rubble and finding computer boards and electronic waste
4. Various of officials including Theeraj Athanavanich, Director-General of the Customs Department, holding up computer boards
5. Wide of Athanavanich and officials at press conference
6. SOUNDBITE (Thai), Theeraj Athanavanich, Director-General of the Customs Department:
“It’s important that we take action on this kind of goods. As you know, there are environmental impacts that are dangerous to the people, especially communities around factories that might import these things for processing then recycling.”
7. Various of officials digging through rubble
8. Cutaway of media
9. Various of officials with shovels containing electronic waste
STORYLINE:
Thai officials on Wednesday said they seized 238 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from the United States at the Bangkok port, the biggest lot they found this year.
The waste, which came in 10 large containers, was declared as mixed metal scrap but turned out to be circuit boards mixed in a huge pile of metal scrap, said Theeraj Athanavanich, Director-General of the Customs Department.
At a press conference held at Bangkok port, a container with rubble and electronic waste was opened, with officials digging through the discarded material with shovels and extracting electronic items, such as computer boards.
The waste was found on Tuesday after the containers became a subject of routine random inspection, officials said.
A U.N. report last year said some 62 million tons of electronic waste was generated in 2022 and is on track to reach 82 million tons by 2030.
It said only 22% of the waste was properly collected and recycled in 2022 and is expected to fall to 20% by the end of the decade due to higher consumption, limited repair options, shorter product life cycles, and inadequate management infrastructure.
Theeraj said relevant authorities are looking to press charges including falsely declaring imported goods and illegally importing electronic waste against those responsible and re-export the waste back to the origin country.
“It’s important that we take action on this kind of goods,” he said. “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 health hazards.
Many components are laden with lead and mercury, cadmium and other toxins. Backyard 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 importation of a range of electronic waste in 2020. The Cabinet in February approved an expanded list of the banned waste.
Sunthron Kewsawang, deputy director-general of the Department of Industrial Works, said officials suspected at least two factories in Samut Sakhon province, which borders Bangkok, are involved in importing the waste
In January, the Customs Department seized 256 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from Japan and Hong Kong at a port in eastern Thailand.
AP Video shot by Tian Macleod Ji
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