MANILA, Mar 2 1994 (IPS) - Philippine customs officials impounded early Wednesday two 12-metre long containers of computer waste from Australia after a Greenpeace ship intercepted the shipment at sea the previous night.

The computer waste, listed as ''mixed electronic metal scrap'', was being carried by the Russian vessel 'Gamzat Tsadasa''.

The incident highlights what environmental activists claim is the growing illegal trade of computer waste or technojunk that is flowing in growing quantities to Asian countries.

''Once again, Australia has been caught red-handed dumping on its Asian neighbours,'' said Simon Divecha, who is coordinating Greenpeace's Asia toxic campaign that culminates here in Manila.

Computer waste and electronic scrap is hazardous to process because it contains chlorinated compounds and rare metals that can produce large amounts of dioxins and other toxic chemicals when burned.

The problem regarding the disposal of such wastes has grown along with the rapid rise of the computer industry worldwide.

Citing reports by the Chinese National Environment Protection Agency and the U.S.-based Centre for Investigative Reporting, Greenpeace says the United States is sending thousands of tonnes of technojunk to Asia every year.

In 1993, more than 1,800 tonnes of this material were sent to China, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

When this sort of waste lands in China, workers strip the cables for copper wire and the remaining stuff is either burned of stockpiled.

Burning computer keyboards can produce brominated dioxins which are by linked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to cancer, disorders in the body's immune system and ill-effects on children.

Because of such findings, the German government considers computer waste as hazardous.

But the Australian government apparently takes a more liberal attitude towards hazardous wastes although the Greenpeace study entitled 'The Waste Invasion of Asia' says Canberra has little knowledge about how much toxic material Australia actually exports to its neighbours.

The Greenpeace study also says available documents show at least 80,000 tonnes of Australian toxic wastes have been shipped to 10 Asian countries.

Australian laws do not control the export of waste if it is being sent for ''recycling and recovery purposes''. As a result, Australian exports to Asia include plastic scrap, lead car batteries, metal scrap and other hazardous wastes and, more recently, computer junk.

In 1992 and 1993, Australia sent hundreds of tonnes of plastic waste to China, Hong Kong, India, Kiribati, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan and Vanuatu.

According to Divecha, Australia was exploiting a loophole in the Basel Convention which allows waste exports if the material was destined for ''reuse or recycling'' in the country of destination.

''Australia is proving to be among the world's top toxic criminals,'' said Divecha, who is an Australian national.

Australia is listed among what green activists call 'The Sinister Seven' -- the top waste exporters in the world. This includes Canada, Finland, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.

Philippine authorities cooperated in stopping the shipment of computer junk in response to appeals of Greenpeace and local environment groups. The Philippines bans toxic waste imports, the only Asian county to have such a law in its books.

Negotiations are underway to have the waste returned to Australia.

Meantime, Greenpeace activists onboard the M/V Greenpeace, which has been touring South-east Asia in the past month, draped the Russian vessel with a giant streamer saying: 'Australia, stop wasting Asia.'

To the surprise of Greenpeace, which is used to being met with resistance, crew members of the Russian ship helped put up the streamer.

Said Greenpeace media coordinator Elisabeth Mealy: ''This is not the usual Greenpeace style.'' (END/IPS/EN/RI/CB/94)

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