Malaysia has sent back 150 containers of plastic waste to 13 mostly wealthy countries, including the United States.
California’s recycling industry has struggled since China banned imports of plastics and other material. Experts say changes are vital to overcome a waste glut.Of the 150 containers, 43 were returned to France, 42 to the United Kingdom, 17 to the United States, 11 to Canada, 10 to Spain and the rest to Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Portugal, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Lithuania, her ministry said.
She said the Malaysian government didn’t pay a single cent, with the costs of sending back the waste fully borne by the shipping liners and companies responsible for importing and exporting the waste. Yeo said talks were ongoing with U.S. authorities to take back 60 more containers this year. Canada also has 15 more containers; Japan, 14; the U.K., nine; and Belgium, eight, of the 110 containers that are still being held at Malaysian ports, she said.“If people want to see us as the rubbish dump of the world, you dream on,” Yeo told reporters during inspection at a port in northern Penang state.
Yeo said the government will launch an action plan on illegal plastic importation next month that will help the different agencies coordinate enforcement and speed up the process of returning the waste. “Our position is very firm. We just want to send back [the waste] and we just want to give a message that Malaysia is not the dumping site of the world,” she added.
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