With the recent shocking reveal that Australia and other countries have been dumping recyclable plastic waste in Malaysia, there’s been more scrutiny surrounding the issue of plastic waste in general being illegally dumped in our country. Thankfully, it looks like the ones in charge are doing something about it!
While conducting checks at West Port – one of our multi-cargo ports – yesterday (April 23), Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said that 24 cargo containers had been discovered harbouring contaminated plastic waste that cannot be recycled, and the containers were to be smuggled into Malaysia. That’s even worse than the dumping of recycled plastic waste!
Source: Facebook
According to The Star, the plastic waste comes from a variety of first world countries such as United States, Germany, United Kingdom and yes, Australia. The waste was meant to be smuggled in as 3920 plastics, a code which signifies they don’t need a permit to enter the country. However, the inspection showed that they were actually 3915 plastics, which is used to classify plastics waste, parings and scrap. The codes are part of a system that categorises products when they are declared at customs checkpoints.
Now that the smuggled waste has been intercepted, the government will issue a warning to the exporters to reclaim the waste in three months’ time, as per the Basel Convention, which is an international treaty aiming to reduce the movement of hazardous waste between countries. When the waste is reclaimed, the origin countries will also be the ones to bear the expense of shipping. As they should!
“Malaysia will not be the dumping ground of the world.” Yeo firmly stated. You go, girl!
Source: news.co.au
At the same time, the ministry will now have all hands on deck over the next month to stamp out those responsible for illegal plastic waste imports. They intend to focus on the source of these imports, as it is believed that they are syndicates profiting off the import of the waste. Forwarding agencies (a.k.a. companies involved in the collection, shipment and delivery of goods) have also been warned to watch out for clients who are importing plastics, as they could have their licences revoked if their clients make false declarations.
We hope those responsible can hear Yeo and her ministry’s message loud and clear! We’re grateful that the ministry has recognised this as an alarming issue, and are taking the initiative to keep it from escalating!
Also read: For the Past 1 Year, Australia Has Been Dumping 71Mil KG Of Recyclable Plastic Waste in M’sia
