Britain has become the latest source found sending waste traffic into China. It is a fresh reminder of the devastating, but often understated, export that is transforming China's landscape.

Every year, according to recent media reports, loads of waste has been transported to China from Britain. It is not a new issue. The United States and other developed countries have been sending waste to China for years.

Such exports are possible because of the cost gap between treating the waste in developed and developing countries, even with transportation taken into account. Since the 1970s, hazardous waste from the United States and European countries has been exported to Africa and South America.

The improper dumping and treatment of waste have often proved disastrous for the local environment.

The international community has been adequately alarmed by the recent crisis caused by toxic waste released by a Dutch-based oil trader in Cote d'Ivoire, causing 10 deaths and thousands of injuries. Less noticed is the more widespread harm unscrupulous waste exports have done to numerous places in China and many other developing countries.

In many southern Chinese villages, dumping and treatment of waste have contaminated rivers, polluted air and soil.

Such hazardous waste traffic damages Western interests, too. As the harmed public becomes increasingly disillusioned, the Western world will see its image tarnished.

Domestic regulators are obliged to be more effective in distinguishing between hazardous waste and normal commodity imports.

Otherwise, the public will lose confidence in the regulators' ability to protect the nation. The environmental crisis in Cote d'Ivoire should serve as a wake-up call.

At the same time, traders in the West should respect the Basel Convention on the control of trans-boundary traffic and disposal of hazardous waste. The convention restricts transfer of harmful waste by countries which have adequate waste treatment technology. Many Western traders stealthily export dangerous waste to China under the disguise of normal trade.

The cost to their countries is damaging long-term, productive interests for short-term benefits.

(China Daily January 16, 2007)