In the middle of the factory wobbling, a few women crouched on the ground, picking up batteries, cords and circuit boards, remnants of the modern world.

They use their hammers and bare hands to smash electronic devices to collect things that can be used. The remainder was transferred to the men to shovel into the mill to recover the metal. After the machine ran, smoke spread throughout the nearby villages and farms. Residents do not know what is in the smoke, just feel an unpleasant smell that makes them hangover.

The New Sky Metal factory, located in Koh Khanun village, Chachoengsao province, Thailand, is a link in the growing electronic recycling industry across Southeast Asia. Many people saw the opportunity after China banned it in 2018.

The United Nations says 50 million tons of e-waste are generated globally each year, as consumers are increasingly turning to old models to buy new products. For a long time, China has received most of the world's electronic waste, but recently decided to stop importing it due to concerns about the environment and people's health.

"Electronic waste does not suddenly go away, but must be taken somewhere. China simply moves its entire operations to Southeast Asia," said Jim Puckett, executive director of the Action Network. Basel, a US non-governmental organization, launched an anti-dumping campaign in poor countries. "In order to make a profit, employers gather large amounts of waste, then take advantage of illegal cheap labor to dispose of it in an environmentally destructive way."

Despite protests from activists, Thailand has become the center of the region's e-waste recycling industry, as the government's efforts are aimed at balancing people's safety and profitability. of the enterprise has not been focused yet.

While some countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have only rejected individual waste lots from the West, Thailand is the first country to act more systematically in repelling electronic waste. In June 2018, the Thai Ministry of Industry issued a ban on this type of waste. The police then launched a series of raids in at least 10 factories, including New Sky Metal.

"New Sky is closed, completely inactive. The amount of electronic waste brought into Thailand has also returned to zero," Yutthana Poolpipat, head of the customs department of Laem Chabang port, Chon province, said in May. 9.

However, during a recent visit to Koh Khanun, NY Times correspondents found New Sky Metal and many other recycling plants still in operation. This facility is only fined up to 650 USD for each violation.

More seriously, after the ban was issued, 28 new factories, mainly recycling electronic waste, still went into operation in Chachoengsao province, according to local government statistics. 14 enterprises in this province have been granted electronic waste disposal licenses this year. Governments in many other provinces are also licensing businesses.

Thai officials say some incinerators may still be in operation because the factory has to handle long-term storage of waste, or that it is domestic waste, not from abroad. However, experts do not have a reasonable explanation, because imported waste warehouse does not exist for so long, while the amount of electronic waste in the country can not be enough to meet the scrap demand of Plants are springing up.

In October, the Thai government relaxed labor and environmental regulations for all factories, including a non-mandatory provision to monitor small companies on pollution levels. Meanwhile, the draft law to increase control of electronic waste has been delayed.

"With those rules, Thailand is cheering for environmental degradation. There are lots of holes and tricks," said Somnuck Jongmeewasin, lecturer in environmental management at Silpakorn International University, for good.

Even when the misconduct is admitted, law enforcement still does not arrive. Officials said 2,900 tons of electronic waste seized during last year's raids had disappeared. They were taken over by a Chinese manager, but he secretly defected from Thailand.

The consequences are left to be extremely terrible. Some electronic waste, if not burned at a high enough temperature, will cause dioxin, a compound that can cause cancer, to enter food sources. The lack of appropriate protective measures will also allow toxic heavy metals to penetrate the soil and groundwater.

This situation made many local residents angry. "Why don't some people in the West recycle their own rubbish? Thailand can't accept any more. We don't want to be the world's landfill," said a farmer named Phayao Jaroonwong. Her crops withered after an electronic waste treatment plant was set up nearby.

Monk Phra Chayaphat Kuntaweera said that around his temple in Chachoengsao province, there are many recycling plants and two other facilities are continuing to be built. The abbot said the monks first coughed, then vomited. Their headache dragged on every time the incinerators worked. "The monk is also human. That smoke makes us as ill as anyone else," he said.

At the beginning of the year, the abbot decided to hang a temple to sell the temple at a low price, saying that smoke from the factory made them forced to take this desperate measure.

Those who dare to speak out against e-waste recycling even face danger, like activist Sumate Rianpongnam. In September, he launched a campaign to stop the industry because it polluted his home town of Kabinburi.

One night, a group of motorcyclists suddenly appeared near the Sumate house, shooting only heaven and then quickly ran away. Shortly thereafter, the men in a pickup truck dropped small homemade bombs on Sumate's friend's house, but the man was not injured.

However, many other cases are not so lucky. In 2013, a village chief spoke out about the illegal hazardous waste that was shot four times while walking in the middle of the day. A local official was convicted for ordering the killing of the village chief, but was acquitted in September.

Right next to the New Sky Metal factory, Metta Maihala is checking her eucalypt plantations. The lake helps irrigate the rusty farm causing nausea.

Two Burmese workers, one male and one female, then walked out among the trees. The man had several burns on his arm from working at New Sky Metal, but he did not know the cause of his injury. Ei Thazin, the woman walking by her side, said she received $ 10 per day for metal sorting. "I didn't know this was dangerous work," she said.

In Thailand, millions of undocumented migrant workers from poorer countries like Myanmar or Cambodia became vulnerable to abuse, environmental monitoring agencies said, adding that the need to seek workers Such dynamics will increase.

"We can't choose the air we breathe. Now the plants are even more sprouting. We will all die out," Metta said.