Malaysia

British media said that Malaysia has become the world's largest importer of plastic waste, and one of the small towns is now almost suffocated by 17,000 tons of plastic waste.

    According to a report on the BBC website on February 15th, waste plastics mainly from the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom were shipped to a new destination-Malaysia.

    This new plastic waste destination may be any town in Malaysia, but the town of Jenjarom is close to Malaysia’s largest port, Port Klang. Plastic waste from most countries enters Malaysia from this port. This small town is because of its convenience. The geographical location has unfortunately become the destination of most plastic waste.

    According to the report, from January to July 2018 alone, 754,000 tons of plastic waste were imported to Malaysia.

    Some plastic recycling factories that are considered illegal by the local government have also emerged. According to the statistics of the local state government, there are 33 illegal recycling factories in Kuala Langat, where the town of Jenjarom is located. Some are close to the botanical garden where palm oil is produced, and some are close to the city.

    The local residents only discovered the existence of these illegal recycling plants several months later, when some symptoms had already appeared.

"Chronic poisoning"

    According to reports, those illegal recycling factories are unwilling to spend money to transport plastic that cannot be recycled to the garbage center. They choose to bury it, or more commonly, burn it.

    Ms. Ngu, a local resident, said that the smell caused by burning plastic was so strong that she coughed violently and coughed up blood clots. She said, "I can't sleep at night because the smell is too strong. I seem to have become a zombie and I don't have any strength at all."

    She said that it was not until later that she discovered that there were some illegal recycling factories near her home.

    Of course, the closer you are to these factories, the greater the harm you will suffer.

    Belle Tan discovered that there was an illegal factory one kilometer away from her home. The burning plastic waste seriously affected the health of her 11-year-old son.

    "He has a lot of rashes on his body. The skin on his stomach, neck, legs and arms has been peeling, and it hurts even if I touch it. I am very angry and worried about my son's health, but what can I do? The air is full These weird smells."

    Whether these symptoms are directly related to air pollution is unclear, but some experts say that plastic burning gases can harm the human respiratory system.

Expediency

    According to reports, the Malaysian government has closed 33 illegal recycling factories in Jenjarom Town, and most of the town no longer has those strange smells.

    But the 17,000 tons of plastic waste left after these illegal factories were closed is still piled there. For a small place with a population of only 30,000, this waste is a big problem. Although the local government has disposed of most of the garbage, there is still a huge mountain of 4,000 tons of plastic garbage that everyone can see.

    It used to be a vacant lot, but now it has become a temporary mountain of plastic garbage. Walking around this garbage mountain, you can see plastic garbage from many countries, a large part of which comes from Japan and the United Kingdom.

    However, in Malaysia, it is not just a town in Jenjarom that has the problem of illegal recycling of plastic waste.

    According to the report, local government officials said that when these illegal factories were caught and closed, they moved to another place in Malaysia to reopen. And this is not surprising, they can easily rent land.

    Locals believe that the illegal plastic recycling industry is difficult to stop unless the import of plastic waste is completely banned. However, considering the potential economic benefits brought by the import and recycling of plastic waste, the Malaysian government seems unlikely to ban the import of plastic waste.

    Instead, the Malaysian government will formulate stricter plastic waste import rules, and only those companies with plastic waste import licenses can import plastic waste.

Look at the world

    According to the report, the problem in Renjialong Town revealed a huge loophole in the plastic waste recycling system in the world. Plastic waste has its own international trade code-HS3915.

    But this code does not show how the quality of the plastic waste is, whether it is quality or pollutant. The importer doesn't know at all, it can only be known by opening it.

    A 2017 United Nations Environment Summer report acknowledged that it is common for mixed plastic waste to be called "clean plastic waste".

    Malaysian Minister of Energy, Technology, Environment and Climate, Yang Meiying, believes that what we need is an appropriate marking system. "We need to standardize the identification of plastic waste." She said. Otherwise, sooner or later there will be another town in Malaysia or other parts of the world, which may become the next Jenjalong town.