Hong Kong urged to look into high-profile case of electronic waste illegally shipped to Philippines as Greenpeace loses track of cargo
- Environmental group found the ship the container was on did not return to Hong Kong – arriving in Shanghai instead
- Under international treaty, government should have prevented the hazardous waste from ever leaving city, campaigner says
Hong Kong authorities have been urged to look into a high-profile case where a container holding tonnes of electronic and plastic waste illegally shipped to the Philippines from the city was sent back last week.
But as an environmental group found the cargo did not return to Hong Kong – arriving in Shanghai instead – officials would need to take even more initiative to investigate.
“They didn’t catch it this time,” Greenpeace senior campaigner Kate Lin said. “Hong Kong customs and the Environmental Protection Department have a responsibility to investigate what went wrong.”
The government should have prevented the container from ever leaving the city, Lin said, because its contents were restricted under the Basel Convention, an international treaty preventing the transfer of hazardous waste to developing countries, applicable to Hong Kong.
According to the global NGO, Hong Kong is the world’s largest transit port of plastic trash, with 280,000 tonnes of waste a year passing through. Government inaction and Hong Kong’s status as a free port have exacerbated the city’s waste trade, it said.