M'sia top importer of US e-waste between 2023 and Feb 25, says study

A study has revealed that Malaysia was the favourite dumping ground for top US electronic waste (e-waste) recycling brokers, having imported over 131,000 metric tonnes between January 2023 and February 2025.

Transported in close to 7,600 containers, the amount of e-waste received by Malaysia was estimated to be more than 75 percent of the 169,497 metric tonnes the brokers had exported out of the US during the period.

According to Basel Action Network (Ban), a non-profit that fights for environmental justice, Malaysia was way ahead of Indonesia and Thailand, which imported 11,745 metric tonnes and 7,974 metric tonnes of e-waste, respectively, during the 26 months.

“Between January 2023 and February 2025, the 10 highlighted US ‘brokers of shame’ collectively appear to have exported more than 10,000 containers of possible e-waste, which would be valued at over US$1 billion.

“Extrapolated industry-wide, this trade could exceed US$200 million in traded waste each month, with Malaysia, a Basel Convention state, identified as the primary recipient.

“During the study period, Ban estimates that US e-waste shipments may have represented nearly six percent of all US trade to Malaysia, underscoring the staggering scale of this toxic trade,” Ban said in a statement.

The statement accompanied their latest report titled “Brokers of Shame: The new tsunami of American e-waste exports to Asia”, which was published yesterday.

Ban said their findings were focused on 10 major brokers, all incorporated in the US, “whose operations appear to play a role in facilitating large-scale transboundary shipments of exports that may contain hazardous e-waste…”

According to the group, they gathered evidence on the e-waste trade through several methods, including studying commercially available trade data, independent GPS tracking and field observations.

Immense harm to country

Wong Pui Yi, a Ban researcher based in Malaysia, said the trafficking of e-waste to the country has caused immense harm.

“Waste traffickers and illegal recyclers blatantly violate Malaysia’s laws in the name of ‘recycling’, in order to reap profits by polluting our water, air and soil, making communities sick, exploiting and poisoning undocumented workers, and fostering corruption.

“Like China, Malaysia is now learning the hard way that recycling the world’s wastes comes at a heavy price. Americans should recycle their old electronics and plastics in their own country,” she said in the statement.

In 2022, Malaysiakini reported that some 1,000 containers of e-waste entered the country every month and ended up in the hands of illegal recyclers hunting for precious metals, including gold, copper, and aluminium.

Industry players told Malaysiakini that these illegal recycling operations hurt the environment and do not contribute to the country’s coffers.

It was reported that Putrajaya was working on amendments to the Environment Quality Act 1974 to increase penalties for illegal e-waste imports.

According to then natural resources, environment and climate change minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, under the Basel Convention, cross-border e-waste shipments require prior informed consent from the receiving country.

He said Putrajaya was committed to returning illegal e-waste imports to their port of origin due to the country’s commitment to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.

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