Customs gets tough over toxic imports

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM 
KORNKAMON AKSORNDEJ 
THE NATION

 

File photo

 

More stringent checks planned to reduce rising trend of plastic and e-waste influx.

 

CUSTOMS AUTHORITIES have tightened cargo inspection at Thailand’s seaports in a bid to control illegal imports of plastic and electronic waste.

 

Environmentalists, however, were sceptical and saw the special measures as only temporarily mitigating the problem when the issue of the smuggling of hazardous waste has caught the public interest. They believe once public scrutiny is relaxed, the influx of hazardous waste into the country will begin again.

 

 

Customs Department deputy spokesman Kreecha Kerdsriphan said yesterday that from now on every container passing through Thailand’s seaports would be inspected for smuggled plastic and electronic waste or any wrongdoing, while related agencies would work together on legal amendments to seal loopholes that allowed the import of hazardous waste into the country.

 

The new, more stringent regulations were the latest effort by the Customs Department and the Industrial Works Department to work together in suppressing the illegal transboundary movement of hazardous wastes in Thailand, Kreecha said.

 

Customs Department data reveals a sharp increase this year in the quantity of imported plastic and electronic parts. In the first five months of 2018, imported plastic waste was already double the total plastic waste imported last year, while the import of electronic parts this year also showed an increasing trend.

 

 

Total plastic waste imports in the first seven months of fiscal 2018 were worth more than Bt1.344 billion, a three-fold increase when compared to the same period of fiscal 2017; 43 per cent of the plastic waste came from Japan, while 14 per cent was from the United States, and 11 per cent from Hong Kong.

 

The Customs Department data also revealed an increasing trend in the amount of electronic waste imported since 2014, while the drastic surge of hazardous waste imports began in 2017 as a result of the Chinese government’s ban on the import of hazardous wastes.

 

Kreecha said that the new cargo inspection measures would ensure that all containers were scanned with an X-ray scanner, while the officers of Customs Department and Industrial Works Department would together open and inspect suspicious containers.

 

“If the officers detect any illegal import of electronic waste or plastic waste, these hazardous wastes will be reverted to the port of dispatch at the expense of the importer,” he said.

 

 

The shipments of used plastics and electronic parts, which can be legally imported to Thailand with an approval licence, are the main targets for inspection, as it was found in many previous cases that many of these cargos were wrongly declared to the Customs offices and many imported shipments did not match the information in their Customs declaration forms, Kreecha said. 

 

He also stressed that the companies found guilty in any case, would have their licences revoked. “In order to perform joint inspection operation, the Industrial Works Department would dispatch their officers to permanently staff seaports that have a large amount of hazardous waste imports,” he said.

 

Despite the stricter regulations being enforced to deal with the import of illegal hazardous wastes, Ecological Alert and Recovery Thailand director Penchom Saetang said these regulations were only temporary measures and could not fully solve the problem.

 

“There are many supportive factors at both the international and domestic levels that contribute to this problem, as the global trend now is for hazardous wastes to move from richer countries to poorer countries,” Penchom said.

 

She urged the National Council for Peace and Order to strengthen |environmental laws and review and revise all signed free trade agreements that Thailand has joined to stop the flow of hazardous waste from trade agreements.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30347697

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-14

Calls for review of Thailand’s importation of electronic trash

By Thai PBS

 

 

The Pollution Control Department will propose a review of Thailand’s importation of hazardous wastes and electronic trash under the Basel Convention on Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.

 

Meanwhile, the national deputy police chief, Pol Gen Veerachai Songmetta, who led a series of raids of trash recycling plants in the past few weeks told a meeting on the management of electronic trash and plastic trash on Wednesday that Thailand has not gained anything at all from allowing wastes to be imported into the country for recycling, but, on the contrary, stands to lose from environmental and health threats posed by hazardous wastes due to lax controls and inefficient disposal of the wastes.

 

Although the Basel Convention has some advantages in a way that Thailand can export hazardous wastes used mobile phone batteries which cannot be properly disposed locally to Europe or Japan for proper disposal, Pollution Control Department chief Mrs Sunee Piyapanpong said the convention has more disadvantages.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/calls-review-thailands-importation-electronic-trash/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2018-06-14

Dept of Industrial Works cracks down on unauthorized importation of electronic waste

 

 

CHACHOENGSAO, 14th June 2018 (NNT) - The Director-General of the Department of Industrial Works (DIW) has visited Chachoengsao province to inspect factories that have been processing imported electronic waste without the proper permits. Authorities will check whether the hazardous waste has been returned to the original licensed factories and collect groundwater samples for contamination testing. 

WMD Thai Recycling Limited is located in Plaeng Yao district and is licensed to conduct only domestic electronic waste separation. However, authorities recently found it had been processing waste imported by JPS Metal Group International Limited. 

DIW Director-General Mongkol Pruekwatana, today led local officials to visit WMD Thai Recycling and follow up on its compliance with the order to return the imported waste to JPS Metal Group International. Officials also collected water samples at the factory to test for contamination and possible impact on the environment. 

Currently, seven factories in Thailand have been granted an import license for electronic waste. However, recent inspections discovered that five of the licensed factories have been forwarding their imported waste to unlicensed processing plants. The DIW has since suspended the licenses of the five factories and ordered them to recall any waste transported to unlicensed plants.

 

-- nnt 2018-06-14

1 hour ago, webfact said:

the drastic surge of hazardous waste imports began in 2017 as a result of the Chinese government’s ban on the import of hazardous wastes.

Typical Chinese mentality...ban it in their own country but export it to other countries.

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 20188 yr by flyingtlger
miss

............said yesterday that from now on every container passing through Thailand’s seaports would be inspected.........

From now on? 

Does that mean only some containers were inspected before?

 

Grrrrr.... ?

 

 

Edited June 13, 20188 yr by doremifasol
emoji

24 minutes ago, doremifasol said:

............said yesterday that from now on every container passing through Thailand’s seaports would be inspected.........

From now on? 

Does that mean only some containers were inspected before?

 

Grrrrr.... ?

 

 

The only containers that were inspected were those which did NOT have an envelope attached to the door handle. And you can bet the status quo will remain.

Edited June 13, 20188 yr by Cadbury

But I thought corruption was okay in some countries? Seems with social media, etc, the more locals understand what corruption is, the less okay they seem to be with it. 

 

 

All this put into lay mans terms translates to..........more backhanders......

More "Crack down"

That work!

Words and words and words. No action.

Same Same but Same Same

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Customs Department deputy spokesman Kreecha Kerdsriphan said yesterday that from now on every container passing through Thailand’s seaports would be inspected for smuggled plastic and electronic waste or any wrongdoing.

 

I wonder which farangs are importing the waste, it couldnt be Thais.

Note to our cherished business community:

import of Paraquat, Glyphosate and other embosomed, while profitable toxic substances, will not be affected in order to protect the nations competitive advantage and your financial well being.

1 hour ago, Lupatria said:

Note to our cherished business community:

import of Paraquat, Glyphosate and other embosomed, while profitable toxic substances, will not be affected in order to protect the nations competitive advantage and your financial well being.

China announced in July 2017 that it will prohibit the use and sale of paraquat in China entirely by September 2020. As a result, export will be the only remaining option for Chinese paraquat manufacturers to sell their products. http://www.cnchemicals.com/Press/89866-China about to ban all sales and use of paraquat by 2020.html

Prayut is happy to oblige his primary foreign ally.

4 hours ago, doremifasol said:

............said yesterday that from now on every container passing through Thailand’s seaports would be inspected.........

From now on? 

Does that mean only some containers were inspected before?

 

Grrrrr.... ?

 

 

1

 

Because you thought every container are inspected in most countries or in the USA for instance? 

https://www.icontainers.com/us/2016/11/11/friday-fun-fact-3-only-2-to-10-of-containers-are-inspected/

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Customs gets tough over toxic imports

Wrong. Get tough with the custom officers. Horse bolted then lock the gate. Check their bank accounts and unexplained wealth. 

It's just overflow from your northern masters, don't complain, you invited them in.

The 'Crackdown' will last as long as it takes for the envelopes to considerably thicken, a week maximum would be my guess !

Crackdown?

Thailand cannot even deal with its domestic garbage and they import hazardous toxic waste ?!!!!