An initiative by the Basel Action Network helped stop illegal e-scrap imports in Southeast Asia, the organization said. | Photo by EARTH Thailand / Provided courtesy of BAN
Officials in Malaysia and Thailand seized containers with hundreds of tons of e-scrap illegally imported from the United States earlier this month after tips from the U.S. nonprofit Basel Action Network.
Since January, Malaysia’s Department of Environment has found 122 containers of unapproved e-scrap imports, according to a press release from BAN and an announcement from the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability.
Nik Nazmi bin Nik Ahmad, who served as the country’s environment minister until his unrelated resignation this week, promised harsh legal action against the parties involved and continued enforcement of e-scrap and plastic import rules outlined by the Basel Convention, an international treaty regulating the flow of e-scrap among most of the world’s countries.
Nik Nazmi also urged U.S. companies to respect the laws of the countries they export to. The U.S. is not a party to the Basel Convention, so the American exporters are unlikely to face charges. However, the Malaysian and Thai importers may be liable, as their countries have adopted the treaty’s standards. Under the convention, non-party countries cannot export to party countries, unless there are specific agreements in place.
In Thailand, officials seized imports of e-scrap from the U.S. in two incidents this month, according to the BAN press release. On May 14, officials found 10 containers with over 250 tons of material during a routine inspection.
A week later, Thai officials seized six containers with circuit board scrap mixed from New York after a BAN tip. Thailand’s Custom’s Department has filed charges against MHC Group Freezone, the import company believed responsible, according to a Facebook post from Ecological Alert and Recovery-Thailand, an environmental group present during the seizure.
Most of the scrap was mixed with metal and automobile scrap and contaminated with hazardous substances. In the post, Ecological Alert and Recovery-Thailand said mixing e-scrap with other scrap is becoming more popular as imports of some materials are exempt from most inspections.
BAN notified Malaysian and Thai officials through Operation Can Opener, an initiative between BAN and Asian environmental groups to share information about illegal shipments with authorities to prevent dumping.
“We are happy to note that Operation Can Opener is enabling us to catch the waste criminals,” Mageswari Sangaralingam, Honorary Secretary of Sahabat Alam Malaysia, a partner in Operation Can Opener, said in a written statement. “We hope this will soon lead to prosecutions, fines, and imprisonment for the perpetrators that hide behind the word ‘recycling’ while poisoning workers and communities.”
The seizures come after Malaysia faced numerous illegal e-scrap imports in recent years. At a Basel Convention conference earlier this month, Nik Nazmi said Malaysian officials have seized 344 containers of e-scrap in 2024 and the first two months of 2025.
“This illicit trade is contributing to severe environmental degradation, contaminating our soil and waterways while exposing workers and nearby communities to hazardous conditions,” Nik Nazmi said in his video presentation.
In an announcement following the conference, Nik Nazmi said the Department of Environment will continue to work with BAN to end illegal e-scrap imports in Malaysia, according to the BAN press release.