Electronics Recycling Canada and its president Sai Feng Guan are accused of shipping Toxic Waste

Surrey recycling company faces 24 federal charges for alleged ‘toxic trade’ with China

BY CHERYL CHAN, THE PROVINCE MARCH 25, 2013

File photo:Edmonton's Clover Bar waste-manage centre. A Surrey recycling company is facing 24 federal charges for allegedly exporting hazardous electronic waste to China.

Photograph by: Ed Kaiser, file , edmontonjournal.com

A Surrey recycling company is facing 24 federal charges for allegedly exporting hazardous electronic waste to China.

Electronics Recycling Canada and its president Sai Feng Guan are accused of shipping nickel cadmium batteries, lead acid batteries, and cathode ray tubes to Macau between August and December 2011.

Jim Puckett, executive director of Seattle-based watchdog Basel Action Network, said the charges are a long time coming.

“The company has been flagged since 2002 for exporting harm,” said Puckett. “The government has known about them for many years. They should have been charged long ago.”

Puckett said volunteers have spotted materials in recent weeks on the firm’s property from the Surrey library and school board. They’ve also seen hospital equipment on site, as well as traffic lights.

“It’s a little scary that local government is using these guys,” he said.

Calls to Electronics Recycling Canada were not answered.

China has become a dumping ground for much of the world’s discarded electronics. Puckett said women and children would strip the hazardous waste for metal or for parts using primitive methods and with little or not protection, slowly poisoning themselves in the process.

The international trade of hazardous waste is governed by the Basel Convention, which came into effect in 1992 to combat what was called the “toxic trade.” Both Canada and China are signatories.

“It’s a criminal act under international rules,” said Puckett, who estimates about five containers a week depart B.C. for Asia. “Canada should prosecute this very aggressively.”

Puckett said Canada has had a poor track record in enforcing the law against offending companies. In 2006, several companies caught smuggling electronic waste from Vancouver were fined an average of $1,600 each.

“That’s nothing,” he said. “You can make that much in profit on one shipment.”

He hopes the current charges result in significant consequences and send a strong message of deterrence.

“The treaty says this is a criminal violation,” said Puckett. “They should be looking at jail time and significant times.”

Guan and his company’s next scheduled court date in Surrey provincial court is April 17.