Indonesia sends 19 containers of hazardous waste back to Britain

INDONESIA has returned 19 containers of British waste to the UK, according to the customs agency.

The move comes in the wake of a Telegraph investigation that revealed that children in the Southeast Asian country are being poisoned by the British household recycling waste sent there and burnt on open dumps.

The containers were returned to the UK on August 1 from Tanjung Perak port after being imported by paper manufacturing firm PT Mega Surya Eratama, according to official documents.

They contained a combination of rubbish, plastic waste and hazardous materials, in violation of import rules.

Huge amounts of waste have been redirected to Southeast Asia after China, which used to take most of the scrap plastic from around the world, blocked foreign refuse last year in a bid to clean up its environment.

But Indonesia has pushed back against becoming a dumping ground for foreign waste, sending almost 250 containers seized across the archipelago back to countries including the US, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Australia and Britain.

Authorities are inspecting more than 1,000 others, a customs official said.

“Imports can’t be contaminated with toxic or dangerous materials,” said agency spokesman Deni Surjantoro.

Authorities near the capital Jakarta are also preparing to send back about 150 containers while inspecting more than 1,000 others that could contain banned materials, Mr Surjantoro said.

Yuyun Ismawati Drwiega, senior adviser of the Nexus3/balifokus Foundation to clean up the environment, said: “Imported plastic that cannot be recycled, mostly will be burned, spreading toxic fumes and ash with high dioxin that enters the food chain and the lungs of residents, especially children.

“There has to be an ongoing international commitment to reducing plastic production worldwide.”

David Renard, environment spokesman for the Local Government Association, said that action was needed to “expand the UK market for recycling” since the China ban, which has led to some councils’ recycling costs increasing by £500,000 over the past year.

“The problem would not exist if producers stopped using poor quality materials which are difficult for councils to process,” he said.

“We are happy to work with government and the waste industry to provide greater transparency on where waste ends up.”