Key points
- Malaysia has emerged as a major destination for waste from US
- American scrap brokers sent over 35,000 tons of plastic waste to Malaysia last year
- Malaysia has recently announced new waste guidelines
ISLAMABAD: Malaysia, which received more discarded plastic from rich countries than any other developing nation last year, effectively banned all shipments of plastic waste from the United States (US), according to The New York Times.
The United States has increasingly relied on countries like Malaysia to deal with plastic trash.
The New York Times reported that American scrap brokers sent more than 35,000 tons of plastic waste to Malaysia last year.
“World’s rubbish bin”
Last year, after seizing more than 100 shipping containers of hazardous materials sent from Los Angeles that had been improperly labeled as raw materials, the Malaysian environment minister, Nik Nazmi said.
The minister said, “We do not want Malaysia to be the world’s rubbish bin.”
The New York Times reported that Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry did not respond to a request for comment over the matter.
Los Angeles Times reported that Malaysia emerged as a major destination for United States (US) waste after China banned American waste imports in 2018.
According to the newspaper, under Malaysian waste guidelines announced recently, the country is no longer accepting plastic waste and hazardous waste from nations that did not ratify the Basel Convention, the international treaty designed to reduce the international movement of hazardous and other waste.
