Nearly 150 containers of illegal plastic waste have been returned by Malaysia to their countries of origin, including 43 to France, authorities announced on Monday, declaring that the Southeast Asian country would not become a "discharge" for developed countries.
After China's decision in 2018 to stop importing plastic waste for its recycling industry, forcing developed countries to find new destinations for their waste, the countries of the region are struggling to cope with the massive arrival of waste containers.
An illegal waste stream in Malaysia
Malaysian authorities "will take the necessary measures to ensure that Malaysia does not become the dumping ground for the world," said Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin. The Environment Ministry "will continue to fight pollution, including plastic waste," she told reporters from the town of Butterworth, which has an important port in the north of the country and from where several containers have left.
Malaysia reported having returned 150 containers containing some 3,737 tonnes of waste, including 43 to France, 42 to the United Kingdom, 17 to the United States and 11 to Canada. The country plans to ship another 110 soon, including 60 to the United States, noted the minister. The global recycling market was plunged into chaos after China's decision to close its doors to the majority of types of plastic waste in 2018. Many Chinese recycling companies have been relocated to Malaysia, causing an influx of waste often illegal.
Waste shipments to Indonesia and the Philippines
Recycling capacities in Malaysia are much lower than arrivals and some localities are overwhelmed by waste. Waste-exporting countries and shipping companies have borne the cost of returning the containers, the minister said. “We don't want to pay a single penny. People send garbage to us, we are not supposed to pay to send it back, "said Yeo Bee Yin.
Several countries in Southeast Asia have practiced the same policy in recent months. Indonesia redirected several hundred containers to their countries of origin, and the Philippines returned a cargo ship containing sixty containers to Canada last summer after a long conflict.
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- Pollution
- Plastic
- France
- Malaysia
- World
- Waste