As part of the Macau Environmental Protection Bureau’s “Electrical Equipment Recycling Program”, the bureau has collected more than 5,400 tonnes of electronic equipment waste through February of this year, of which 177 tonnes of circuit boards were successfully processed for recycling.

Using the “Computer and Communication Equipment Recycling Program” launched in 2017 as a basis, the Environmental Protection Bureau launched the “Electrical Equipment Recycling Program” in 2020, which expanded equipment recycling to include refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines and televisions.

The 177 tonnes of pre-treated circuit boards were packed in Macau in accordance with the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. They were then shipped to Japan via Hong Kong by sea for subsequent regeneration and recycling.

The Basel Convention, which was first signed March 1989 and now has over 190 signatory countries, aims to protect public health and introduces a transboundary movement system. The transboundary movement of waste must be approved by both the importing and the exporting countries.

China is a signatory to the Basel Convention, which also applies to the Macau Special Administrative Region.