EU's plastic waste exports to Malaysia soar: report
Malaysia is the world’s second-largest dumping ground for plastic waste from the European Union (EU), undermining its government’s commitments to prevent the Southeast Asian nation from becoming a dumping ground for detritus from around the world.
The amount of plastic waste from the EU to Malaysia last year increased by 35% compared to 2022. (Illustrative photo: AFP/VNA)
Kuala Lumpur (VNA) - Malaysia is the world’s second-largest dumping ground for plastic waste from the European Union (EU), undermꦿining its government’s commitments to♓ prevent the Southeast Asian nation from becoming a dumping ground for detritus from around the world.
Data from the Statistical Office of the EU (Eurostat) showed that the amount of plastic waste from this bloc to Malaysia last year increased by 35% compared to 2022. The EU exported 8.5 million tonnes of paper, plastic, and glass to other countries in 2023, up 34% from the year before, of which over a fifth of its destined for dumps in Malaysia.
For exports of recyclable plastic, Türkiye was the largest destination (at 22%), followed by Malaysia (21%) and Indonesia (19%). The volume exported into Malaysia amounted to 283,000 tonnes in 2023, an increase of 99,000 tonnes from the previous year, according to EU data.
In November 2023, EU lawmakers pledged to ban exports of plastic waste to countries outside the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) from mid-2026. The OECD mainly consists of high-income economies and developed countries, and Malaysia is not a member of the organisation.
A report by plastic waste trade watchdog group Basel Action Network (BAN) criticised the EU for the continued increase in plastic waste exports to poorer countries, which reached 78,000 tonnes in June 2024, compared to 58,000 tonnes of the same period last year. It also called on the High Ambition Alliance (HAC) countries to immediately stop exporting their plastic waste to non-OECD countries, Mexico, and Türkiye.
Malaysia’s Environment Minister Nik Nazmi declared in June that the government does not want the country to become the world's rubbish bin in the face of reports about the booming trade in legally imported waste materials from the West alongside illicit imports run by foreign gangs./.
Some 16 retail chains across Malaysia have pledged to no longer provide single-use plastic bags to customers from October 1, said Minister of Housing and Local Government Nga Kor Ming at the “Say No to Single-Use Plastics” campaign in Kuala Lumpur on September 26.
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Malaysia's Department of Statistics (DOSM) has reported that the country's information and communication technology (ICT) and e-commerce sectors generated 427.7 billion MYR (99.25 billion USD) in 2023, contributing 23.5% to its GDP.
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