The Wenzhou Customs Office in east China's
Zhejiang
Province on Wednesday uncovered 405.5 tons of scrap electronic
products, dubbed "electronic garbage," that originated in the
United States.
Customs sources said nobody had claimed 22 40-foot containers even
long after their arrival. After investigating the shipping bills,
customs officials concluded there must be something wrong with
them.
They opened the containers and found only scrap computer monitors,
keyboards, copiers and color TV sets inside, which according to
Chinese regulations are banned imports.
"As the address and telephone number on the shipping bills are
fake, we believe this is most likely a deliberate move to transfer
electronic garbage," said a customs official.
He
said the customs was determined to repatriate these waste goods in
line with the law. At present, it was still making further checks
into the case.
Unwilling to invest in garbage disposal, certain developed
countries are seeking to transfer their wastes to developing
countries and regions. Much garbage, especially the electronic
kind, contains harmful chemical materials.
(Xinhua News
Agency September 12, 2002)