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Malaysia To Send Plastic Waste Back To Its Origin Countries, Including The U.S.

Return to sender! Malaysia will send about 3,000 tonnes of non-recyclable plastic waste back to its origin countries, such as the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia, in a move against becoming a dumping ground for rich nations.

These 3,000 tonnes, held in 60 shipping containers and stacked with contaminated waste, were “illegally brought into the country under false declaration and other offenses which clearly violate our environmental law," Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said after inspecting the containers at Port Klang.

Get this. The senders loaded legal waste in the front of the containers so they could hide the illegal waste in the back! Totally not cool.

“Malaysia will not be a dumping ground to the world... we will fight back. Even though we are a small country, we can’t be bullied by developed countries.”

Malaysia’s plastic problem increased last year when they became the world's main destination for plastic waste after China banned its imports. China’s ban “opened up the eyes of the world to see that we have a huge garbage and recycling problem,” said Yeo, as the ban has disrupted the flow of more than 7 million tonnes of plastic waste a year and forced a global recycling reckoning.

“We urge the developed countries to review their management of plastic waste and stop shipping the garbage out to the developing countries,” she said, calling such practices “unfair and uncivilized.”

"If you ship to Malaysia, we will return it without mercy."

 

Last Updated: May 30, 2019

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