Malaysia swamped by UK plastic waste as deliveries increase by 81pc this year
THE UK has this year increased its plastic waste exports to South-east Asian nations already struggling under the weight of the West’s rubbish, a Greenpeace investigation has found.
Unearthed, Greenpeace’s investigative unit, reported significant spikes in scrap exports t o Vietnam, which received more than 1,000 tons in the first seven months of 2020, and Malaysia, which saw an 81 per cent rise in British plastic deliveries, with 33,098 tons arriving during the same period.
Both countries have been battling the dumping of plastic from around the world since China banned waste imports from abroad in 2017 over concerns about environmental pollution. Malaysia, now the UK’S second largest market for waste, has particularly suffered from overflowing dump sites and environmental damage. In January, it announced it would return 42 containers of illegally imported UK waste.
But CK Lee, a Malaysian environment activist, told The Daily Telegraph: “Malaysia allows import of plastic waste by licensed local recycling companies. UK plastic is protecting its own but killing our environment, legally. This is the kind of ethics prevailing in the West.”
Nina Schrank, plastics campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “Britain is still trying to play pass the parcel with plastic. This is plastic waste intended for recycling – instead it’s being dumped on countries like Malaysia, whose recycling infrastructure is overwhelmed.”
However, Simon Ellin, chief executive of the Recycling Association, argued that there was nothing wrong with “compliant export to Malaysia which has a significant demand for plastic raw materials”. Compliant export was “healthy and often circular”, he said, but admitted that there was “a tiny proportion” of criminal behaviour.
Despite a rise in exports to some developing nations, an analysis of government data shows that, overall, the UK has sent 36 per cent less waste to NON-OECD countries than last year.
“The Government is a global leader in tackling plastic pollution and is committed to clamping down on illegal waste exports,” said a spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
“We have pledged to ban the export of polluting plastic waste to NON-OECD countries and to introduce tougher controls on waste exports.”