Malaysia returns 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste to U.S., France, others
http://www.hrlnews.com/2019/05/malaysia-returns-3000-tonnes-of-plastic.html
Malaysia will send as much as 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste back to
the countries it came from, the environment minister said on Tuesday,
the latest Asian country to reject rich countries’ rubbish.
Malaysia last year became the world’s main destination for plastic
waste after China banned its import, disrupting the flow of more than 7
million tonnes of the trash a year.
Dozens of recycling factories have cropped up in Malaysia, many
without operating licenses, and communities have complained of
environmental problems.
Yeo Bee Yin, minister of energy, technology, science, environment and
climate change, said 60 containers of trash that had been imported
illegally would be sent back.
“These containers were illegally brought into the country under false
declaration and other offences which clearly violates our environmental
law,” Yeo told reporters, after inspecting the shipments at Port Klang,
on the outskirts of the capital.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte last week ordered his government
to hire a private shipping company to send 69 containers of garbage
back to Canada and leave them within its territorial waters if it
refuses to accept them.
Canada says the waste, exported to the Philippines between 2013 and
2014, was a commercial transaction done without government consent.
Canada had agreed to take the rubbish back but Duterte lost patience as arrangements were being made and ordered it out.
Malaysian officials have identified at least 14 origin countries,
including the United States, Japan, France, Canada, Australia and
Britain, for its unwanted waste.
Yeo said citizens of developed nations were largely unaware that
their rubbish, which they think is being recycled, is instead mostly
being dumped in Malaysia, where it is disposed of using environmentally
harmful methods.
A recycling company based in Britain had exported as much as 50,000
tonnes of plastic waste to Malaysia in the past two years, she said,
without identifying the firm.
Yeo said Malaysia would ask foreign governments to investigate such companies.
“We are urging developed nations to review their management of
plastic waste and stop shipping garbage to developing countries,” she
said.
“If you ship to Malaysia, we will return it back without mercy.”
Malaysia has already returned five containers of contaminated plastic waste back to Spain.
Plastic unsuitable for recycling is burnt, which releases toxic
chemicals into the atmosphere. Or it ends up in landfill, which can
contaminate soil and water sources.