Import of plastic waste banned
Permanent prohibition in place after realising M’sia is top dumping ground
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has permanently banned the import of plastic scrap, following revelations the country has become a top dumping ground for plastic waste, said Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.
However, companies can apply for plastic. issuance plastic contaminated. quality, “We “Those APs scrap, have clean to of who APs import plastic agreed the for wish types quality, the can to to import apply stop that import clean are the for of new APs but there is strict criteria and we have Malaysia Zuraida meeting “At added present, told at fully her more reporters ministry comply only conditions. after eight here. with a companies multi-ministry this criteria,” in include Department The additional obtaining of Occupational conditions approval for Safety from companies and the Health, mitting their having list their of end own product factories buyers. and sub
have “Some their AP own owners factories, previously so they didn’t sent their even plastic waste to illegal factories,” said Zuraida.
Zuraida added imports of clean plastic will only be allowed for the next three years, to protect the local plastic industry.
The plastic recycling and manufacturing industry in Malaysia has an economic value of RM30bil while globally, it is worth RM600bil. “So we will phase out the import of plastic waste in three years and then we go fully local,” said Zuraida. Zuraida said Malaysia imported a total of 1.8 million tonnes of plastic from 33 countries since 2015. “After this, we will limit import to only developed countries such as the United States, Korea, Japan and European countries.” The meeting was chaired by Zuraida and attended by the ministers of the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change; Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources; and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. The Malaysian Plastic Manufacturers Association also shared their views during the meeting.