E-waste from drop-offs at Officeworks exported, possibly breaching treaty

NGO says it used GPS units to track waste from collection points at Officeworks to Hong Kong and Thailand

Electronic waste dropped at government-approved recycling points at Officeworks stores was allegedly exported to developing countries, potentially breaching a global waste treaty, a non-government organisation has said.

The US-based Basel Action Network (Ban) - which embeds GPS units inside discarded electronics and monitors them - said in a report to be released on Thursday that two LCD monitors the organisation placed at Officeworks' "Bring IT Back" drop zones in Brisbane were tracked to an area of Hong Kong's New Territories known for "e-waste trafficking".