Used printed circuit boards, hard disk drives and central processing units were piled together in a 40-foot container. These scrap items are considered as scheduled waste under local laws and the Basel Convention.

Penang environment department director Sharifah Zakiah Syed Wahab said the consignment was from Los Angeles and contained items collected from Dallas, Texas. They were declared to be “aluminium alloy” on the import manifest and headed to the importer in Klang.

She said the 21.3 tonnes of e-waste will now be sent back to the US. The last time such a consignment was detected in Penang was last year and had also come from the US.

“The disposal of electronic waste is a highly regulated one as it is a hazard to the environment.

“It is even more serious when these items are sent to unlicensed premises to be processed, burnt in the open or buried.

“Recycling or disposal of e-waste requires specific controls to reduce harmful heavy metals from permeating the earth, air or sea,” she told FMT.

Sharifah said the local recipient would be subject to provisions under the Environmental Quality Act and will face fines up to RM500,000 and five years’ jail if they do not cooperate with the authorities.

She said the importer would also have to pay for the cost of sending the consignment back to the US.