The government is facing calls to step up to its responsibilities for policing e-waste laws.

Charity Computer Aid International has launched a campaign following the Environment Agency’s (EA’s) failure to make an investigation into the dumping of electronic waste in West Africa and China.

The EA, responsible for enforcing the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, needs more resources to police the legislation, said the charity.

Under WEEE, IT manufacturers are legally responsible for the safe disposal of their products, and are obliged to ensure all products are disposed of in an environmentally-friendly manner themselves or by signing up with a government-approved waste-handling firm.

"The Environment Agency must be provided with the resources to police e-waste, prosecute anyone involved in a supply chain that results in the dumping of e-waste and remove licences from organisations in breach of the WEEE legislation," said Computer Aid chief executive Louise Richards.

"It's imperative that the government clamps down on cowboy traders posing as legitimate re-use and recycling organisations, who are enticing unwitting UK businesses to use them for WEEE disposal.”

The extent of the e-waste dumping abroad has been highlighted over the recent months by Greenpeace, Consumers International and media investigations.

Computer Aid said it is aware of the scale of abuse of European e-waste in developing countries. The charity distributes second-hand PCs and laptops to support IT-based learning, health, inclusion and agriculture projects in countries such as Kenya, Madagascar and Zambia. To date, Computer Aid has refurbished more than 130,000 PCs and laptops.

"These cowboys do not declare the contents of their shipments as hazardous e-waste, but fraudulently claim consignments consist entirely of electrical equipment destined for productive re-use," said Richards.

"The high volume of environmentally unsound e-waste is driven almost exclusively by the motive of profit, but the cost is borne by the environment and the children who disassemble the equipment.”