Malaysia's Efforts To Send Back 150 Containers Of Garbage To 13 Countries

JAKARTA - The Malaysian government sent back 150 plastic waste containers to a number of countries, such as the United States (US), Britain, France and Canada. Malaysian authorities are emphatic that their country will not become the world's 'garbage dump'.

The neighboring country has been inundated with shipments of illegal plastic waste since 2018, when China cracked down on a huge recycling industry. Malaysia is the main target of the illegal waste trade. The Malaysian government is trying to improve its reputation by returning waste.

Monday, January 20, Malaysian Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin ordered that 3,737 tonnes of waste be returned to 13 countries. Of the 150 containers, 43 were sent back to France and 42 were sent to the UK, while the US would receive 17 containers and Canada 11 containers.

"The government will try to ensure that 'Malaysia does not become a dumping ground for the world's trash'," Yeo said in a post on Facebook.

In addition, Minister Yeo Bee Yin confirmed the countries where the waste originated and the shipping companies that bear the cost of returning it.

Reporting from CNN, Tuesday, January 21, China is known to have had a ban on imports of plastic waste since two years ago. This policy was carried out as part of an initiative to clean the environment.

The move had the global supply chain affected, as eventually the middlemen had to find a new destination for their waste, so they chose Malaysia.

A recent Greenpeace report found that during the first seven months of 2018, plastic waste exported from the US to Malaysia more than doubled in comparison to 2017.

The problem of receiving waste from abroad also occurs in the Philippines. In 2019, Canada finally recovered thousands of tonnes of trash sent to the Philippines since 2018. This was done after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte sparked a diplomatic row which led him to withdraw the Philippine ambassador to Ottawa, Canada.

The Canadian government finally covered all operational costs and promised to pull the waste back before the end of June 2019. Duterte's spokesman, Salvador Panelo, announced that Philippine officials had been ordered to find a private shipping company to transport the trash back to Canada.

"If Canada doesn't collect their trash, we will dump the same thing (garbage) in its territorial waters," Panelo said.

Duterte has even bluntly said he is ready to declare war on Canada over the rubbish problem.

In May 2019, governments from 187 countries, including Malaysia, agreed to add plastics to the Basel Convention, an agreement regulating the transfer of hazardous materials from one country to another. This is done to combat the harmful effects of plastic pollution around the world. The US is not included in the agreement.