By ALIFAH ZAINUDDIN / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

MALAYSIA has vowed to double its efforts in restricting imports of plastic waste, an effort which began last year, as incoming supply continues to feed many illegal plastic recycling factories in the country.

Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC) Minister Yeo Bee Yin described the battle against these factories as an ongoing struggle despite a crackdown on nearly 400 plants last year. As of January this year, 218 illegal mills ceased operations.

“I will not say it is zero now. We will have to continuously battle and fight these illegal recycling factories because many of them are already in Malaysia and they find ways to get to all these hidden corners. So, we would like the people to be our eyes and ears and report to us.

“We will then be able to take action quickly,” she said at a news conference after the launch of MESTECC Initiative 2020 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Malaysia sent back 150 shipping containers of plastic scrap last year to mostly developed countries including France, the UK, the US, Canada and Spain.

Imports into Malaysia steadily increased from an estimated 20,000 tonnes per month at the beginning of 2017 to about 110,000 tonnes per month in early 2018, following China’s ban on foreign plastic imports.

Yeo said Malaysia would not tolerate actions that turn the country into the world’s garbage dump. The country is expected to repatriate another 110 containers by June.

The ministry is now working to create a standard operations framework to better coordinate the movement of at least three different agencies responsible for plastic waste imports in the country. They include the Department of Environment, Royal Malaysian Customs Department, and the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corp under the Housing and Local Government Ministry.

“Last year, we started sending (the shipments back) but it was very difficult because there were no standard operating procedures. We did not know what to do. So, we worked out on how to do it; we wrote it down and sent it to all the agencies to create an institutional memory.

“Under the Basel Convention, we will usually inform the competent authority on the other side to see if they will accept it. Normally they do, so it is not a problem. Once we identify and verify the claim, we will go to the competent authority and so far, we have not been rejected,” she said.

MESTECC recently announced its readiness to share existing policies on plastic management, inclu- ding the establishment of a new recyclable plastic factory to ensure that environmental sustainability can be preserved. It has also launched guidelines for scrap metal imports.

British daily The Guardian on Monday reported that Greenpeace Ltd had urged the Italian government to end its shipment of plastic waste to Malaysia. It said investigations by environmental groups found that Italy had exported 2,880 tonnes of plastic waste between January and September last year — of which nearly half was received by companies operating illicitly.