Absence of E-Waste Controls Poses Environmental Threat in Indonesia

Fidelis E. Satriastanti, The Jakarta Globe 22 Feb 10;

Nusa Dua. Wait. Before you throw away that old cellphone, think about what it may be doing to the planet.

That was the warning given here Monday over Indonesia’s lack of regulations on electronic waste as a new study from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) documented a sharp increase over the next ten years in the dumping of hazardous e-trash.

“We have no regulations on e-waste and it [the issue] is becoming more and more complicated,” said Imam Hendargo, the Environment Ministry’s deputy for the management of hazardous substances and waste.

The report, “Recycling — From E-Waste to Resources,” was presented at a forum on toxic chemicals here and included data from 11 developing countries to estimate current and future e-waste from products like computers, printers, laptops, mobile phones and television sets.

The eleven countries are China, India, South Africa, Uganda, Senegal, Kenya, Morocco, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, and Peru.

Based on the report, discarded gadgets in China and South Africa will jump by 200 to 400 percent from 2007 levels by 2020. In India the figure is 500 percent.

There is no available data on Indonesia’s e-waste, Imam said, but, he added, it could be estimated based on the number of people who own refrigerators, television sets and mobile phones.

“If 10 percent of Indonesians own mobile phones that is [an indicator of] how much e-waste we have, not to mention how many own refrigerators or televisions. Nowadays, one household might even have more than one television,” he said.

According to London-based Business Monitor International, Indonesian consumers are expected to spend $7 billion on consumer electronics this year. Last year it reported that sales of LCD and plasma televisions, as well as Chinese cellphones, surged due to lower prices.

There are at least 100 million cellphone users in the country, with two of the largest cellphone service providers, Telkomsel and Excelcomindo, reporting a combined 90 million subscribers at the end of 2008.

With no existing regulations, Imam said that the government was still relying on voluntary action by companies willing to recycle their own e-waste.

“It is not just about e-waste, we also need to deal with medical waste, because no one really knows where it is being discarded and there are no regulations concerning that issue,” he said.

Achim Steiner, executive director of UNEP, said people don’t yet realize the impact of mountains of e-waste inundating landfills, slums, rivers and the environment in general. New policies must be developed to deal with the problem.

“The numbers that are emerging are staggering. We are roughly estimating the global generation of e-waste is growing by about 40 million tons a year,” said Achim, adding that in the US alone there were more than 150 million mobile phones and pagers sold in 2008.

Globally, more than one billion mobile phones were sold in 2007, up from 896 million in 2006.

Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, said that people were not going to stop consuming electronics.

“We’re seeing things becoming waste more quickly now. Every six months you see newer models of mobile phones. You can’t stop people from consuming electronics right away, but what we can do is get the toxic materials out of the equipment,” Puckett said.

RI congratulated for rejecting e-waste from US
Antara 23 Feb 10;

Nusa Dua, Bali (ANTARA News) - The Basel Action Network has praised Indonesia for turning down nine containers of e-waste (electronic waste) from the United States last November 2009.

"Last night, I congratulated the Indonesian environmental affairs minister for the Indonesian authorities` diligent action," Jim Puckett, coordinator of Basel Action Network (BAN), said here on Monday.

Old computer monitors in the nine containers are considered hazardous e-waste for containing lead, he said when speaking to journalists attending a United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Workshop on "Reporting Green - Environment as News".

He said e-waste was a problem which could poison the people. Some children working in electronic companies have lead in their blood which later could damage their brain. A similar problems could be found in China, India and Nigeria, he said.

The e-waste coming from Massachusetts was about to enter Semarang, Central Java, last November. But, thanks to a tip-off from BAN, the Indonesian authorities managed to foil the smuggling attempt.

In accordance with Indonesia`s law, hazardous import was banned, while for the US, which has not yet ratified the Basel Convention, the export was legal, he said.

Besides the US, Afghanistan and Haiti are yet to ratify the Basel Convention.
An attempt was made to dump used computer monitors in Indonesia because it was cheaper to export than recycle them, he said.

The sale of electronic products in countries like China and India and across continents such as Africa and Latin America are set to rise sharply in the next 10 years, according to UN experts in a landmark report released by UNEP in Nusa Dua, Monday (Feb. 22).

"And, unless action is stepped up to properly collect and recycle materials, many developing countries face the spectre of hazardous e-waste mountains with serious consequences for the environment and public health," according to the report.

Issued at a meeting of Basel Convention and other world chemical authorities prior to UNEP`s Governing Council meeting in Bali, the report "Recycling - from E-Waste to Resources" , used data from 11 representative developing countries to estimate current and future e-waste generation - which includes old and dilapidated desk and laptop computers, printers, mobile phones, pagers, digital photo and music devices, refrigerators, toys and televisions.

Nairobi-based UNEP is organizing "The Reporting Green Workshop" and "The Simaltaneous Extraordinary Meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COPs) to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions", in Nusa Dua, from Feb. 22 to 26.

And on Feb. 24-26, UNEP will hold the 11th Special Session of the Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, which is expected to be officially opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and attended by around 100 environment ministers from various countries.(*)

Indonesia Takes Tough Stand Over Exports of Toxic Trash
Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 24 Feb 10;

Nusa Dua, Bali. As wealthy countries eye developing ones as dumping grounds for their hazardous waste, little has been done by the Indonesian government 16 years since it ratified the international chemical waste treaty.

The agreement, also known as the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, seems to have been forgotten amid challenging climate change issues.

The State Ministry for the Environment said Indonesia had turned away a US shipment of hazardous waste at Tanjung Mas port in Semarang in November. The vessel was carrying nine containers of cathode ray tubes. The incident was widely reported abroad, but received little coverage by local news media.

CRT is a vacuum tube found mostly in computer and television sets. They are classified as hazardous under the Basel Convention.

Yuyun Ismawati, director of the BaliFokus Foundation, a Bali-based environmental group, said the Basel Convention was crucial because it was Indonesia’s only legal platform to prohibit dangerous waste from entering the country.

“The US containers case in November is a good example of how important this convention is,” Yuyun said.

She said that of the 22 official ports in the country, Batam and Wakatobi in Sulawesi were the main entry points for such materials from overseas.

Reports from the convention’s signatory nations suggest that there are at least 8.5 million tons of hazardous waste moving between countries each year.

Yuyun said to keep the archipelago from becoming a dumping ground for developed nations, the government must first ensure Indonesians understand the Basel accord.

“The convention is producing guidance in mostly complicated terms that commoners find hard to understand,” she said.

The Basel Convention, signed in 1989, was initially criticized by environmentalists for being too lenient. Activists, particularly those from Africa, called for a complete ban on the export of hazardous chemicals.

In 1995, the agreement was amended to mandate a complete ban, but was not legally binding because major signatories, such as Japan and the United States, refused to ratify it. Only 68 of the 172 signatory nations signed the amendment.

Imam Hendargo, the Environment Ministry’s deputy for the management of hazardous substances and waste, said there were difficulties in monitoring waste coming into the country, citing a lack of resources.

“And it is not that easy to monitor our vast coastal areas,” Imam said.

Jim Puckett, executive director of the Basel Ban Network, applauded the government for turning down the shipment in November.

He added, however, that the United States would not been penalized. “But this sends a strong signal back to the United States. Environmental protection agencies across the whole region are freaking out.”

He said that while all eyes were on climate-change issues, no one wanted to live in a contaminated world, where birth defects and cancer become epidemic.

“If we save ourselves from the climate but keep on contaminating our environment, it’s the same. We can’t ignore these issues while we work on climate change issues,” he said.