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Malaysia's Battles Against Plastic Waste spans beaches and city shop

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Malaysia's Battles Against Plastic Waste spans beaches and city shop

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Reuters,Fri,September 18,2020

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Every weekend, a team of volunteers comb the coastline of the Malaysian resort of Tioman to collect plastic trash that washes up on the white-sand beaches of the island lapped by the South China Sea.

But rather than burn or bury the trash, it is being recycled into plastic pellets so that it can be used to make a range of products from auto parts to home appliances and furniture.

"Everything is wrapped in plastic these days so it's incredibly hard," said Sydney Steenland, the founder of the Sea Monkey Project, a non-governmental group involved in recycling ocean waste.

While the initiative does help clean up the environment and recycle waste, Steenland admits "it's never going to actually stop the situation if you don't tell people to stop using the plastic first."

Heng Hiap, based in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, is one of a growing number of companies working with environmentalists to collect and remove plastic waste in the country's waters.

"Marine pollution is becoming a problem and we decided to focus on ocean-bound plastic material," said the company's founder Seah Kian Hoe, noting the aim was to serve conscientious consumers.

Conservation group WWF released a report earlier this year saying that out of six Asian countries Malaysia was one of the leading consumers of plastic packaging, at around 16 kg (35 lb) per person each year.

The report looked at China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, which are estimated to contribute 60% of the roughly 8 million tonnes of plastic that enters the world's oceans each year.

The pellets made by Heng Hiap are sold to companies such as Kian, a furniture maker.

"Every chair that comes out from the machine we know that this has recycled part of the trash that we have created in the first place," said Irene Lim, Kian's furniture branding manager, in a showroom in Kuala Lumpur.

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Malaysia's battle against plastic waste spans beaches and city shops

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Every weekend, a team of volunteers comb the coastline of the Malaysian resort of Tioman to collect plastic trash that washes up on the white-sand beaches of the island lapped by the South China Sea.

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The huge problem of plastic waste in M'sia

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The huge problem of plastic waste in M'sia

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Nur Imani Abdullah,6 Jun 2018

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LETTER | According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the world uses up to five trillion plastic bags each year.

Plastic pollution is a serious, long-standing issue. Surprisingly, most people are aware of the impact of plastic usage on the environment and health. They are well-informed about the fact that plastic is non-biodegradable and will not fully disintegrate.

According to a study in academic journal Science, Malaysia is the eighth-worst country worldwide for plastic waste. It is estimated that Malaysia produced almost one million tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste in 2010, of which 0.14 to 0.37 million tonnes may have washed into the oceans.

Malaysia seriously has a huge problem with plastic waste. We often see empty plastic cups, plastic straws, plastic lids, empty water bottles on the roadsides, seashores and dumpsites. Plastic waste is a serious environmental threat. It is composed of major toxic pollutants, and has the potential to cause great harm to the environment in the form of air, water and land pollution.

Plastic pollution will affect us in many ways. The burning of plastic waste could emit dioxin, which is toxic to humans. They are carcinogenic and a hormone disruptor and persistent, and they accumulate in our body fat. Moreover, the plastic waste that is dumped into landfills will eventually seep into underground waterways which pollute groundwater resources and river.

Plastic pollution has threatened marine and land animals. Plastic packaging and straws that have washed out into the ocean and dumped into landfills have always been a threat to marine life and land animals.

The ubiquitous plastic bag is regularly eaten by numerous marine and land animals, which leads to fatal consequences. According to the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, plastic debris kills an estimated 100,000 marine mammals, millions of birds and fishes annually.

There are many ways to beat the plastic pollution:

1. Reduce single-use of plastic in daily life especially straws and plastic wrap.

2. Use recyclable shopping bags.

3. Avoid products containing plastic microbeads by looking for "polyethylene" and "polypropylene" on the ingredient labels of your cosmetic products.

4. Recycle recyclable plastics.

In conjunction with the theme of World Environment Day 2018, "Beat Plastic Pollution", it is advisable for us to reduce single-use plastic and start practising recycling. Every single piece of plastic can cause the death of one single animal.

NUR IMANI ABDULLAH is secretary of the Malaysian Water Forum.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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The huge problem of plastic waste in M'sia

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LETTER | According to the United Nations Environment Programme, the world uses up to five trillion plastic bags each year. Plastic pollution is a serious, long-standing issue. Surprisingly, most people are aware of the impact of plastic usage on the environment and health.

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Malaysia’s Mahathir tells rich nations to take back their plastic garbage

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Malaysia’s Mahathir tells rich nations to take back their plastic garbage

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By Simon Denyer

May 30, 2019

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by Alyssa Farha Jasmin and Wong Ee Kin (Research Intern), 11 September 2019

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Plastic waste dumped in Malaysia will be returned to UK, US and others

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Plastic waste dumped in Malaysia will be returned to UK, US and others

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By Ushar Daniele and Helen Regan,May 29, 2019

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malaysia to return plastic waste to countries that shipped it - cnn

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Plastic waste dumped in Malaysia will be returned to UK, US and others

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Malaysia will return 450 tonnes of contaminated plastic waste to the countries that shipped it, in a refusal to become a dumping ground for the world's trash.

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Malaysia, flooded with plastic waste, to send back some scrap to source

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Malaysia, flooded with plastic waste, to send back some scrap to source

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By A. Ananthalakshmi, Emily Chow,MAY 21, 2019

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Report: Malaysians Asia's biggest plastic consumers

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Report: Malaysians Asia's biggest plastic consumers

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By Reuters

February 17, 2020

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Malaysia minister says plastic waste is being smuggled into country

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Malaysia minister says plastic waste is being smuggled into country

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Klang, Malaysia   /   Tue, April 23, 2019

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Plastic waste is being smuggled into Malaysia using shipping containers by being falsely declared as another type of import that do not require a permit, says the country's Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin.

She said a two-week investigation found that plastic waste is being smuggled in from developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Germany.

"We have found that there are containers which have contaminated plastics but it is being declared that they are not (HS Code) 3915 plastics," said Ms Yeo, the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister.

"They are falsely declaring it as (HS Code) 3920 plastics, where they don't need a permit and can enter the country straightaway."

The HS (Harmonised System) Code is a coding system to classify products when they are declared at the customs checkpoints.

The 3915 code refers to plastic waste, parings and scrap, while the 3920 code refer to other plates, sheets, film and foil strips.

She added that international cooperation was needed to take down such global syndicates.

"We want to focus on the source of the illegal plastic imports. We need to stop it at the ports and we believe that there are syndicates who are making lucrative profits from importing such waste from developed countries," she said.

Ms Yeo added that her ministry would be going "full-force" to clamp down on those responsible for illegal plastic waste imports over the next month.

She sent out a warning to forwarding agencies to be wary of clients who are importing plastics, adding that the government has the right to revoke their licences if their clients make false declarations.

In the meantime, she added, exporters of such plastic waste would be told to take back their waste in about three months' time as specified under the Basel Convention.

"Malaysia will not be the dumping ground of the world," the minister said. "We will send back (the waste) to the original countries."

The waste would be shipped back, but not under the Malaysian government's expense. The Basel Convention is an international treaty aimed at reducing the movement of hazardous waste between countries.

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Malaysia minister says plastic waste is being smuggled into country

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Plastic waste is being smuggled into Malaysia using shipping containers by being falsely declared as another type of import that do not require a permit, says the country's Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin. She said a two-week investigation found that plastic waste is being smuggled in from developed countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, United States and Germany.

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Malaysia says ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to plastic trash imports

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Malaysia says ‘thanks, but no thanks’ to plastic trash imports

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By Daniel T Cross on January 24, 2020

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Malaysia has had enough. Of the planet's plastic waste, that is.

Malaysia has had enough. Of the planet's plastic waste, that is.

The country has started sending back shipments of plastic refuse that rich nations seek to offload by shipping it to poorer nations such as those in Southeast Asia. In a few months Malaysia has returned 150 containers of plastic waste to 13 other countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Canada. The volume amounted to 3,737 metric tons in total.

The country's government said it will return another 110 containers full of plastic trash in coming months. It will also shut down some 200 plastic recycling plants that have been operating illegally. "[The] Malaysian government is serious about combating the import of illegal wastes as we do not want to be the garbage bin of the world," Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin stressed in a Facebook post

Since China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018, many richer nations have been rerouting shipments of their plastic waste to Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In the first seven months of 2018, Greenpeace found, plastic waste exported to Malaysia from the US more than doubled over the previous year.

Yet in these recipient countries such waste has been taking a toll on the environment and people's health. Thailand, one of the world's primary tourist destinations, is becoming " the garbage bin of the world " owing to a steady influx of plastic waste. In 2018 alone an estimated 330,000 tons of plastic waste was imported into Thailand, primarily from Japan, Hong Kong and the United States, according to Greenpeace.

Making matters worse is that these same Southeast Asian countries themselves are among the world's leading plastic polluters. Just five countries in Southeast Asia produce more marine plastic waste through leakage and outright dumping than the rest of the world combined. One of the worst offenders is Vietnam, a country blessed with a scenic seemingly endless coastline. Yet rising consumption and poor waste management have resulted in vast amounts of plastic waste ending up in the ocean from Vietnam.

"Alongside Viet Nam's rapid economic development over the past decades, the country's solid waste generation has also increased consistently at annual rates of around 10%," the World Economic Forum notes. "Only about 10-15% of collected waste in Viet Nam is reused or recycled; much of the remainder is sent to dump sites and incineration facilities, underlining the necessity of more sustainable approaches to solid waste management in the country."

What this means is that it won't be enough for these Southeast Asian countries to stop accepting waste from elsewhere. They will have to tackle their own domestic waste problem too.

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Malaysia says 'thanks, but no thanks' to plastic trash imports

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Malaysia has had enough. Of the planet's plastic waste, that is. Malaysia has had enough. Of the planet's plastic waste, that is. The country has started sending back shipments of plastic refuse that rich nations seek to offload by shipping it to poorer nations such as those in Southeast Asia.

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Swamped with plastic waste: Malaysia struggles as global scrap piles up

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Swamped with plastic waste: Malaysia struggles as global scrap piles up

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By A. Ananthalakshmi and Emily Chow, THU OCT 25, 2018

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PULAU INDAH, Malaysia (Reuters) - Hundreds of sacks filled with plastic waste from the United States, Britain, South Korea and Spain spill onto the streets of an industrial zone in Pulau Indah, an island town just an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur and home to Malaysia's biggest port.

The stench of burning plastic and fumes from nearly a dozen recycling factories wafts through the neighborhood, even as more container-loads of plastic waste are unloaded.

Pulau Indah - ironically, the name means "beautiful island" in Malay - is one of many towns in Malaysia where illegal plastic recycling factories have popped up in recent months as the Southeast Asian nation became the top choice for plastic waste exporters from around the world.

The trigger for this dumping deluge was a Chinese ban on waste imports from the beginning of this year, which disrupted the flow of more than 7 million tonnes of plastic scrap a year.

Malaysia quickly became the leading alternative destination, importing nearly half a million tonnes of plastic waste between January and July from just its top 10 source-countries.

Dozens of factories have opened up in Malaysia to handle that waste, many without an operating license, using low-end technology and environmentally harmful methods of disposal.

"The situation is getting worse, especially with more and more illegal plastic recycling factories," Yeo Bee Yin, Malaysia's minister of energy, technology, science, climate change and environment, told parliament last week.

Used plastic is recycled into pellets, which are then used to manufacture other plastic products, but the process comes with pollution risks. Plastic unsuitable for recycling is burnt, which releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. Or it ends up in landfill, potentially contaminating soil and water sources.

Yeo said she does not want Malaysia to be the "trash can" for developed nations, but Housing Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, who oversees the waste management department, told Reuters that the government also does not want to miss out on a business that could be worth billions.

Both ministers are members of a government committee studying its options for dealing with the growing pile of plastic waste.

BURNING PLASTIC

In the Pulau Indah industrial zone, Reuters reporters saw nearly a dozen recycling plants, many of them without signboards or company names, though government data shows only two factories in that area have a license to import plastic waste.

One of the bigger ones, Jingye Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, was shut down in August for not having a license, according to an official notice seen by Reuters.

But workers in the factory and others nearby say it reopened within weeks, and when Reuters reporters visited earlier this month, it was operating. Plastic waste was stacked up within the premises and all along the road.

The factory supervisor declined to comment.

Company records show Jingye was set up in Malaysia in October 2017, three months after China said it would ban imports of foreign waste from 2018. Reuters could not reach the owners of the factory and no contact details were listed in records.

One worker in the industrial zone, who did not want to be identified, said there were as many as eight illegal factories in the zone and many openly burned plastic that cannot be recycled.

"Every night they burn. I see black smoke at night, so I go over and ask him 'why are you trying to kill me?' They ignore me," he said.

In the nearby district of Kuala Langat, authorities found 41 factories operating illegally, many of them run by Chinese companies, according to Housing Minister Zuraida. Around 30 were shut down by authorities in the last three months after residents complained of open burning of plastic and health complications.

(Click tmsnrt.rs/2OKAfWJ for an interactive graphic)

STRICTER RULES

It is unclear how the illegal factories are sourcing plastic waste. Zuraida said some of the 95 companies that have a permit to import and recycle such waste are subcontracting to illegal factories as they lack the capacity to handle such volumes.

Malaysia's imports of plastic waste from its 10 biggest source-countries jumped to 456,000 tonnes between January and July, versus 316,600 tonnes purchased in all of 2017 and 168,500 tonnes in 2016.

The United States, the world's top exporter of plastic waste, sent 178,238 tonnes of such waste to Malaysia between January and July, nearly twice as much as it sent to second top destination, Thailand, according to the United Nations' trade database and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.

Britain, another big plastic waste exporter, sends a quarter of its waste to Malaysia, also more than any other country.

Environment Minister Yeo estimated that the plastic recycling industry would earn Malaysia 3.5 billion ringgit ($841.95 million) this year.

Zuraida said she planned to introduce new rules soon that will make it harder for factories to qualify for an import license.

"I understand plastic recycling is quite lucrative. So I am also thinking should we miss this economic opportunity? This is something the committee will study," Zuraida told Reuters.

If such an option is pursued, Malaysia would do so on strict terms, require high-end, green technology and allow factories to operate only in heavy industrial areas, she said.

The factories are currently located haphazardly, including near or within residential areas. In Kuala Langat, southwest of Kuala Lumpur, a massive recycling factory nestled between palm plantations was shut down three months ago.

But 10-foot (3 meter) tall towers of plastic waste - mostly consumer packaging material from the United States, Britain, France, Netherlands, Germany and Australia - were still piled in the front yard. A large plot of land next to the factory has been turned into a dumping site for scrap.

($1 = 4.1570 ringgit)

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disposal & recycling services (trbc level 5)

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Swamped with plastic waste: Malaysia struggles as global scrap piles up

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Hundreds of sacks filled with plastic waste from the United States, Britain, South Korea and Spain spill onto the streets of an industrial zone in Pulau Indah, an island town just an hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur and home to Malaysia's biggest port.