Toxic Tsunami: U.S. E-Waste Floods Developing Asian Nations

In October 2025, a new report by the environmental watchdog Basel Action Network (BAN) exposed a concerning trend of U.S. electronic waste being shipped overseas, primarily to developing countries in Southeast Asia. According to the investigation, millions of tons of discarded electronics from the United States, including phones, computers, and other devices, are being exported each month, often in violation of international laws.

The report identified 10 U.S. companies, including Attan Recycling, Corporate eWaste Solutions, and Greenland Resource, that have been exporting these hazardous materials to countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. These shipments, which BAN describes as a "hidden tsunami" of e-waste, are padding the profits of the electronics recycling industry while causing significant environmental harm in the recipient nations.

Many of the recipient countries are ill-equipped to handle the influx of toxic waste, which contains harmful substances like lead, cadmium, and mercury. Much of the e-waste ends up in informal scrapyards, where workers dismantle the devices by hand without proper protection, releasing toxic fumes and polluting the local environment. Authorities in Thailand and Malaysia have recently seized hundreds of tons of illegally imported U.S. e-waste, but experts warn that the problem is far from resolved.

The report estimates that between January 2023 and February 2025, the 10 identified companies exported more than 10,000 containers of potential e-waste valued at over $1 billion. Industry-wide, such trade could top $200 million per month, further exacerbating the global e-waste crisis.