Chinese ‘E-Waste Town’ of ‘60 Minutes’ Fame Finally Shuts Off Foreign Imports, BAN Says

The “infamous Chinese e-waste town” of Guiyu in Guangdong Province has “finally closed its doors” to e-waste imports, the Basel Action Network said Thursday. The Chinese government has “finally moved to place strict controls on informal e-waste recycling operations” and has also barred the entry of foreign e-waste into the Guiyu area, BAN said. Guiyu was the focus of a BAN-inspired 60 Minutes expose that led to the 2012 convictions of the two former top officials of an Evergreen, Colorado, recycling firm on federal charges they pocketed millions by illegally shipping tons of hazardous CRT TVs to China (see 1212270044). “By order of regional authorities,” all e-waste work in the Guiyu area has been moved to a large industrial park with a central receiving location where all incoming shipments are “now screened to disallow foreign e-waste,” BAN said. “While China has long had a national e-waste import ban, it was never adequately enforced in Guiyu until now,” the green group said.