Environment Ministry to toughen curbs on electronic waste trade

Friday February 24, 4:40 AM

The Ministry of the Environment on Friday decided to tighten control over the trade of discarded computers and other electronic wastes to prevent them from being sold under the guise of used products by working with the Hong Kong government.

The ministry plans to draft guidelines that include stricter provisions requiring waste dealers to apply the same strict standard as they do on regular waste when they handle used computers with little service life.

The guidelines aim to prevent electronic wastes from triggering environmental pollution in China after they were brought via Hong Kong under the guise of used products, which are less strictly regulated.

The ministry will report on the guidelines at an international recycling conference in Tokyo next month and will call on Asian countries to utilize the guidelines.

The guidelines call for the environment minister to check whether used computers can be recycled in recipient countries before exporting them.

The guidelines also specify what level of toxic materials contained in electronic wastes, such as lead, make them subject to the governmental control in order to help unify varying standards among Japan and other countries.