Malaysia issues permanent ban on import of plastic waste

joseph kaos jr The Star 26 Oct 18;

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has issued a permanent ban on the import of plastic waste effective Friday (Oct 26), says Zuraida Kamaruddin.

The Housing and Local Government Minister said the country would also be phasing out the import of other types of plastic within three years.

The decision was made in a meeting Friday between Zuraida's ministry and the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change; Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources; and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

The government had prior to this imposed a three-month freeze on the issuance of approved permits (AP) for the import of plastic waste.

Import of plastic waste banned
joseph kaos jr The Star 27 Oct 18;

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has permanently banned the import of plastic scrap, following revelations the country has become a top dumping ground for plastic waste, said Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.

However, companies can apply for APs to import quality, clean plastic.

“We have agreed to stop the issuance of APs for the import of plastic scrap, the types that are contaminated.

“Those who wish to import quality, clean plastic can apply for new APs but there is strict criteria and we have added more conditions.

The additional conditions for companies include obtaining approval from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, having their own factories and submitting their list of end product buyers.

“Some AP owners previously didn’t even have their own factories, so they sent their plastic waste to illegal factories,” said Zuraida.

Zuraida added imports of clean plastic will only be allowed for the next three years, to protect the local plastic industry.

The plastic recycling and manufacturing industry in Malaysia has an economic value of RM30bil while globally, it is worth RM600bil.

“So we will phase out the import of plastic waste in three years and then we go fully local,” said Zuraida.

Zuraida said Malaysia imported a total of 1.8 million tonnes of plastic from 33 countries since 2015.

“After this, we will limit import to only developed countries such as the United States, Korea, Japan and European countries.”

The meeting was chaired by Zuraida and attended by the ministers of the Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change; Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources; and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

The Malaysian Plastic Manufac­turers Association also shared their views during the meeting.


No more AP for plastic waste: Zuraida
Suhaila Shahrul Annuar New Straits Times 26 Oct 18;

PUTRAJAYA: The Housing and Local Government Ministry has permanently stopped the issuance of Approved Permits (AP) for plastic waste effective today.

Its minister, Zuraida Kamaruddin said the decision was made after a meeting between the ministry and the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry; Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry ; and International Trade and Industry Ministry today.

“This move was towards strengthening and empowering the dependence on the local plastic industry.

“The plastic industry is able to bring a big profit to a country’s economy with some RM30 billion a year in Malaysia and approximately RM600 billion a year worldwide,” she said during a press conference today.

It was previously reported that the non-governmental organisations (NGO) and academicians in the country had urged the government to impose a permanent ban on the import of plastic waste to be recycled in the country.

This is to avoid any adverse effect on public health and the environment.

She added that it was also agreed at the meeting to review the criteria for the import of high quality plastics such plastic industrial, homogeneous plastic and clean plastic to the country.

“The review will also take into consideration the role of local plastic industry towards strengthening it and increase dependency on the industry,” she added.

Meanwhile, she said the ministry was also working towards wiping out illegal factories which process plastics through a ‘cleaning’ operation nationwide.