When you buy a new computer or mobile phone and decide to get rid of the old one, have you ever wondered what happens to it? If you sell it to someone collecting old phones on the street, it will probably be resold to a shop or another person, who will resell it to someone else.
However, it is hard to know where it will end up. Although there are many recycling businesses in Hong Kong, many of those companies collect old phones to resell for a profit. There is no law to monitor the handling of such items; the products can end up being shipped outside Hong Kong, where they could be handled improperly.
Michelle Au Wing-sze, senior environmental officer with Friends of the Earth (FoE), said she suffered a horrible experience while visiting a dumping site for electronic waste in Guiyu, Shantou city , in Guangdong province.
'I could smell the pungent odour of burning plastic,' Au said. She also saw one man heating mobile phone chips on a stove, without wearing a protective mask.
Government figures show Hong Kong produces more than 70,000 tonnes of e-waste each year. At least 10 per cent ends up in the city's landfills, while more than 80 per cent is exported for recycling in developing nations.
There is no proof the trash in Guiyu came from Hong Kong, but Au thinks it is likely owing to its proximity to Hong Kong, which is only fivehours away by road.
Her suspicions were confirmed by Greenpeace International, which found e-waste was still being exported to Guiyu as the major mainland e-waste dumping site, even though China banned e-waste imports in 2000. The green group revealed its undercover investigation on its website in 2009.