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HomeNewsAfter the Philippines Malaysia also Takes a Stand Against Plastic Dumping

After the Philippines Malaysia also Takes a Stand Against Plastic Dumping

After the Philippines, Malaysia has decided to tighten its laws regarding its plastic dumping. This decision came after various countries started sending there plastic and E-waste material to the country, giving rise to various environmental problems.

Malaysia Is Not A Plastic Dumping Site

To tackle this problem, Malaysia on 24th April made a joint task force for the sole purpose of identifying and returning plastic and E-waste material back to the countries of their origin. Till now, the task force has conducted ten successful operations and is planning to return 450 metric tons of plastic waste to the point of origin.

On Tuesday the task force found nine more containers with filled plastic waste at Klang port which is located west of Kuala Lumpur. Another five containers were returned to Spain last month due to the same reasons 

Countries Involved In Plastic Dumping

According to the Malaysian minister for of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment, and Climate Change Yeo Bee Yin while showing plastic samples from Australia told the media that majority of the scrap received is from developed countries like USA, UK, and Canada.

Other countries involved in plastic dumping include Japan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Netherlands, and Singapore. All of whom should be expecting a return shipment with the same content in the near future she added.

China’s Ban on Importing Plastic

Ever since China placed a ban on plastic and E-waste imports as part of its new go green policy countries have been struggling to manage with their plastic waste and have resorted to using developing countries as a dumping grounds inviting their anger.

This row of taking a stance began with the Philippines when it gave Canada a deadline to take back all containers filled with trash it had dumped there. When the deadline passed with no action taken the Philippine’s  ambassador stationed in Ottawa was called back as a sign of diplomatic severance or protest.

It was only after the Philippian’s president threatened to declare war against the Canada that prompted a response from then assuring that arrangements were being made to take back the shipment. The Canadian government further confirmed that they would take care of all the expenses.

Looking at the problems plastic trash was causing 187 countries, including Malaysia, decided to add plastic to the Basel Convention, which deals with the transportation of hazardous material between two countries to prevent further problems.

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