EA still working to return waste illegally dumped in Malaysia

Malaysian officials inspecting a container containing plastic waste shipment on January 20, 2020 before sending back to the countries of origin. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

By Conor McGlone on April 09, 2021, Source: ENDS Report

Since 2019, 40 containers of illegally exported waste have been returned to England from Malaysia, the Environment Agency (EA) has confirmed, but there is more left to repatriate.

he EA told ENDS that three containers of illegally shipped waste remained “outstanding and are still in Malaysia”.

The regulator said it was still “liaising with the parties involved” to return them “as soon as practicable”.

The revelations come after Malaysian authorities announced on Tuesday that it had sent 267 containers of illegal plastic waste back to their countries of origin since 2019, and was in the process of returning 81 more.

The amount of waste being sent to Malaysia from the UK has increased since major waste export markets such as China, Thailand and Vietnam announced they would close their borders to a range of materials. 

Malaysia is now the second largest importer of UK plastic scrap after only Turkey. The volume exported to Malaysia increased by 63% in 2020 compared with 2019.

READ MORE: MAPPED: The UK's plastic waste exports

However, the Malaysian government claims it has become a dumping ground and that some waste arriving in the country has been sent there illegally.

Greenpeace says Malaysia has “very low recycling rates and a serious problem with plastic waste being dumped or burned illegally”.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Malyaisan environment minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, had promised that shipping companies or agents who broke Malaysia’s environment and import laws would face “strict action”.

An EA spokesperson said: “We urge everyone involved in waste management, including waste producers, to ensure that robust duty of care assessments are made on the companies that their waste is sent on to, right through to its final treatment or disposal.”

In its 2019 manifesto, the UK government promised to ban plastic waste exports to countries that are not members of the OECD. 

However, these exports are still allowed from the UK under a new system of “prior informed consent”, under which the importer has to agree to accept the waste, and has the opportunity to refuse it. Meanwhile, the EU banned the export of all plastic waste to developing countries from 1 January.

DEFRA says it will consult before the end of 2022 on banning the export of plastic waste to non-OECD countries.