Recovery of copper wire scrap more harmful

I REFER to the report “Time to put a tighter lid on plastic waste” (The Star, Nov 28).

As someone who grew up in a family involved in the recycling business, I have to say that the environmental damage caused by the recycling of foreign plastic scrap is minimal when compared with the recycling of low-grade foreign copper wire scrap.

I have noted that higher-grade copper wire scrap tend to be recycled in the country of origin (developed nations) while the low-grade scrap is exported to developing nations.

In Malaysia, the copper wire scrap is processed to recover the metal, leaving the plastic component which is not economi- cal to recycle and hence just dumped.

This plastic accounts for over 50% of the total imported volume of more than one million tonnes of copper wire scrap per year.

Worse still, the plastic still contains a trace amount of contaminated copper.

A large quantity of plastic, including polyvinyl chloride (PVC), is burnt in unlicensed coal-fired furnaces to recover the copper.

The value of the contaminated copper is too low to be recovered economically using the crushing and gravity separation method.

Operating an unlicensed, coalfired furnace is already very polluting. Operating it for the recovery of dirty copper by burning huge amounts of plastic is a sure and fast way to wipe out the Malaysian population.

The authorities are fully aware that the burning of PVC yields very toxic dioxin and furan, a colourless, flammable and highly volatile liquid that is toxic and may be carcinogenic in humans.

I have also noted that unlicensed coal-fired furnaces are mushrooming throughout Malaysia.

There is definitely no shortage of contaminated materials to be processed in these very polluting furnaces.

Ironically, the contaminated copper recovered from the coalfired furnaces is exported and erroneously declared as copper products, hence escaping the 10% export duty on copper scrap.

Plastic accounts for over 50% of the total imported volume of more than one million tonnes of copper wire scrap per year.