Ports of (non)-risk and the trickle through of toxic trade

• In Event: Green Criminology #5- Environmental crimes and economic activities

Abstract

Environmental crime is frequently described as low risk, high reward. To engage with this pervasive perception, this paper explores the case of illegal trade in electronic waste (e-waste) between Europe and Ghana. The illicit movement and informal management of discarded electronics is an ongoing environmental threat, which persists despite increased attention and legislative developments targeting the transboundary movement of toxic waste. While the environmental costs of e-waste management are externalised from Europe when e-waste is smuggled out, Ghana becomes end-of-line for the toxic fractions of this waste stream. The risk and responsibility are transformed and transported alongside the electronic appliances in the supply and value chain.

Through a focus on risk perceptions, this paper explores the complex nature of illegal transnational flows of e-waste. The article draws on ethnographic fieldwork from Ghana and Germany, where semi-structured interviews have been conducted with importers, exporters, retailers, agents, and government officials. In addition, the article incorporates cross-cutting legal analysis as we sketch out the contours of the transnational organisation of e-waste trade and the bypassing of the legal landscape and port governance. The findings highlight the importance of multiple perspectives on non-compliance as it pertains to environmental crime and the unequal distribution of “reward” as well as environmental harm that follows illicit e-waste movement.

Authors

• Julie Nygaard Solvang, University of Copenhagen

• Leonora Kleppa Stærfeldt, PhD Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen