Malaysia has announced it will send 3,000 metric tonnes of non-recyclable plastic to the Countries that exported it there in the first place. These Countries include the UK, US, Canada and Australia. This new initiative from the Malaysian Environmental Minister comes in an attempt to avoid becoming a dumping ground for rich nations.
Environmental Minister, Yeo Bee Yin, said Malaysia and many developing countries have become new targets for waste dumping after China banned the import of plastic waste.
60 containers stacked with contaminated waste were recently caught being smuggled in en route to illegal processing facilities in the country, these will all be sent back to their Countries of origin.
Ten of these containers are due to be shipped back within two weeks, she said, as she showed reporters contents of the waste at a port outside Kuala Lumpur.
Among the items included in these waste filled containers were cables from the UK, contaminated Milk from Australia and CD’s from Bangladesh.
“Malaysia will not be a dumping ground to the world “
Yeo Bee Yin, Malaysian Environmental Minister
Ms Yeo said a UK recycling company exported more than 50,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste in about 1,000 containers to Malaysia over the past two years.
