As if plastics were not threatening enough to the environment, officials have finally woken up to the danger of the most dangerous of all the common pollutants. After years of turning their heads, police and government now are discovering the great environmental disaster from discarded electronics.
Right under the eyes of officials appointed to know better, the nation has become one of the world's great dumping grounds for downright dangerous, discarded mobile phones, PCs, CDs, game boxes and a hundred other items from the massive mobile and internet supply lines.
As dandy as the 35-year-old tech revolution has been, the fallout that has hit Thailand has environment-harming results that endanger all Thais. Tens of thousands of tonnes of this worn-out, downgraded, broken or just discarded tech junk has hit and continues to hit Thai shores. Last year, three countries -- Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore -- offloaded 53,000 tonnes of this junk on Thailand. Dozens of other countries also ship their tech garbage here.
At first, this programme had a point. It was authorised -- and still is -- by the Department of Industrial Works, under the nominal supervision of the Ministry of Industry. Thailand already produces hundreds of tonnes of such e-waste itself. Business interests convinced the government Thailand could become a world leader in recycling electronic junk from around the world. The DIW, without public fanfare, issued the first licences.
Right there is where this now highly dangerous proposal and project should have stopped. It should have been clear, and in fact was clear to many experts in the environmental field, that the government had taken a huge misstep. The idea of recycling electronic waste was excellent. Allowing business to proceed without strong regulations and stronger enforcement put this programme off the rails. It is questionable whether it can be successfully redeemed.
It was entirely predictable that when the door was opened to import some, manageable amounts of e-waste for recycling that there would be a fast and furious onslaught of illegal imports. Smuggling of imported tech waste is now actually big business, not to mention a source of corruption at the Laem Chabang port.
The scale of the graft is unknown for now, but it is clear that authorised and unauthorised shipments are mixed, and virtually nothing is rejected.
The promise was for modern recycling plants, using carefully regulated measures and trained staff to handle highly dangerous, usually toxic waste. Without scrupulously enforced regulations, the inevitable occurred. Gimcrack factories using cheap, usually migrant labour sprung up. The result in some areas of Chachoengsao and Ayutthaya provinces is farmland polluted with toxic material as if the recyclers had salted the earth.
There now may be only one solution: a total ban on importing e-waste. Indeed, some environmental groups already are recommending this.
It is an extreme measure, and would certainly cause harm to the seven companies which have licences to handle e-waste. But it would also, quite properly, put out of business the unauthorised and dangerous mini-factories handling e-waste in a most cavalier and risky way. Thais toss away plenty of electronics every year -- batteries and circuit boards are particularly toxic for workers and the environment. But there is not enough for the seven factories entrusted with handling such e-waste safely.
Arguably the worst part of the current situation is that it didn't occur quickly. While it is coming to public attention now, the problem has been well know. Farmers have complained their fields have suffered. Tech experts and pollution authorities warned that e-waste is different from standard rubbish and requires special handling.
The idea of raising Thailand as a regional or world hub of e-waste handling and recycling was credible and deserved support. The manner in which it has been handled has created health risks and a regulatory mess that was never necessary.