Yeo may just be our favourite minister of all time!
Ever since she was appointed as the science and environment minister, Yeo Bee Yin has been championing the issue of plastic pollution relentlessly, and her latest act includes cracking down on illegal plastic processing factories.
According to FMT and Sinchew, Yeo vows to cross off at least 100 illegal plastic-recycling factories in the first three months, starting with Selangor. In fact, the minister herself led a team to raid a factory on Thursday (17 January) and Malaysians were impressed!
Source: Sinchew
Apparently, Yeo wasn’t satisfied with the operation as the main gate was chained up and it took some time for the local authorities to get a cutter, which gave time for the factory workers to make their escape. As such, she has urged the authorities to be more efficient in such raids.
Source: Sinchew
Apparently, Malaysia has also ceased giving out the license to import plastic waste but that didn’t stop the waste from coming into our country from January to July 2018. The imported plastic was then transported to factories all over the country and Selangor is the worst-hit state.
“The government will continue to hunt for these illegal factories in future. I have instructed the DoE to take this matter seriously and close all illegal factories,” said Yeo.
To make sure the factories don’t go back into business after the raid, Yeo has instructed the local authorities to cut off their power and water supply to paralyse the factory operation. As for the confiscated plastic waste, they can be sold to plastic-recycling factories with a legit license.
As of now, 61 factories have been shut down with over 100 tons of plastic waste recovered. The ministry believes that there are more illegal factories hiding in the Klang Valley and it will continue to search and destroy them.
Source: Sinchew
We need more ministers like Yeo who actually walks the talk. It’s no wonder she was named one of the top 10 people who impacted the world by a UK-based scientific journal!
Check out the full story below!
Also read: UK-Based Scientific Journal Names Yeo Bee Yin One of Top 10 People Who Impacted the World
