Malaysia orders plastic waste to be returned to origin country

Kuala Lumpur will send back imports illegally smuggled in after China's ban

20190528 Malaysia environment minister

Malaysia's Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Yeo Bee Yin shows a sample of a plastic waste shipment in Port Klang, Malaysia on May 28. © AP

P PREM KUMAR, Nikkei staff writer

TOKYO -- Malaysia has ordered local port authorities to immediately send back hundreds of tons of plastic waste to their point of origin, in a signal that the country is stepping up in a global initiative against the unscrupulous export of waste products.

Malaysia's Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said that Malaysia would be starting with the shipping out of 450 metric tons of contaminated plastic waste that had been smuggled into the country, originally coming from developed countries including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, United States and China, as well as other nations like Bangladesh.

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