China suffers from transnational movement of hazardous wastes from Western countries and has become a dumping ground for electronic waste (e-waste), experts say in a new report.

 

China's State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) revealed that 80 percent of the world's e-waste comes to Asia and 90 percent of it entered China making it the world's biggest dumping ground for such material.  

 

Around 50 to 80 percent of e-waste from the US was destined for China while the country, along with Indonesia, was the major export destination of the UK's e-waste, according to China Business News.

 

China is a party to the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, which came into effect in August 1992, to prevent the export and import of hazardous wastes.

 

The government prohibits the import of such wastes but a lucrative black market has resulted in waste being smuggled in.

 

Under its commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO) since its entry in 2001 the government has been drafting and amending laws and regulations in accordance with the international convention on environmental protection, according to the report.

 

The report was jointly produced by SEPA and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. It has been submitted to the State Council.

 

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) figures show that more than 50 million tons of e-waste including scrap electronic items such as mobile phones, televisions and computers emerge worldwide each year.

 

Developing countries are destinations of e-waste created by developed nations. A single port in Nigeria could receive more than 100,000 abandoned or old computers every month, said UNEP official Achim Steiner.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2006)