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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia allowed a plastic waste container from the United States to enter after discovering that it contained only clean, recyclable material, and did not violate a new United Nations treaty banning trade in contaminated plastics after all.
Signatories to the Basel Convention, which entered into force on January 1, can only trade plastic waste if it is clean, classified and easy to recycle, unless the importing country has granted an exemption.
Malaysia became the world’s top plastic garbage destination after China banned imports in 2018, and has returned thousands of tons of plastic waste since then.
READ: Malaysia moves to reap the benefits of global plastic waste processing
Plastic waste piled up in front of an illegal recycling factory in Jenjarom, Kuala Langat, Malaysia, on October 14, 2018 (Photo: Reuters / Lai Seng Sin).
His environment minister said on Tuesday (March 30) that the US shipment, which arrived on Saturday and was thought to be dangerous, turned out to be a clean and homogeneous polyethylene residue, as required by its import license.
“The Department of the Environment confirms that plastic waste meets the criteria of the Basel Convention B3011,” Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said in a statement.
The United States, which produces more plastic waste per capita than any other country, is the only major country that has not ratified the Basel Convention and is not bound by its rules. However, under the treaty, Malaysia cannot accept banned plastic waste from the United States.
