Malaysia to send plastic waste back to where it came from

A Malaysian official inspects a container filled with plastic waste shipment before sending it back to the country of origin. Pic/AFP

Kuala Lampur: Malaysia will send back some 3,000 metric tonnes (3,300 tonnes) of non-recyclable plastic waste to countries such as the US, UK, Canada and Australia in a move to avoid becoming a dumping ground for rich nations, Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said on Tuesday. Yeo said Malaysia and many developing countries have become new targets after China banned the import of plastic waste last year.

The Philippines said it would ship back dozens of containers of garbage which were illegally shipped to the country from Canada in 2013 to 2014. Yeo said 60 containers stacked with contaminated waste were smuggled in en route to illegal processing facilities in Malaysia and will be sent back to their countries of origin. Ten of the containers are due to be shipped back within two weeks, she said, as she showed reporters contents of the waste at a port outside Kuala Lumpur.

The displayed items included cables from the UK, contaminated milk cartons from Australia and compact discs from Bangladesh, as well as bales of electronic and household waste from the US, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia and China. The waste from China appeared to be garbage from France and other countries.

Mother, daughter sue France over pollution
A Paris court on Tuesday began hearing a case brought by a mother and daughter who, in a legal first in France, are suing the state for damages over ill health caused by air pollution. The mother and the daughter are asking for 1,60,000 euros in damages from the state at the administrative court of Montreuil in the east of Paris. They argue the authorities did not take effective measures against pollution, especially around December 2016.

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