Malaysia to send 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste back to countries of origin

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 (Reuters) - 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 licences, 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.
This month, about 180 countries agreed to amend the Basel
Convention to make global trade in plastic waste more
transparent and better regulated.
The United States, the world's top exporter of plastic
waste, has not ratified the 30-year-old pact.