Malaysia Works to Return Hundreds of Containers of Scrap Plastics

After China banned imports of certain materials, Malaysia ended up becoming one of the world’s main destinations for plastic waste. Now, the Southeast Asian nation is negotiating with countries to take back the trash they’ve shipped off to Malaysia.

Reuters reports that more than 300 containers carrying plastic waste from Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, Canada and the United States are being held at the port in Penang state, one of the busiest in Malaysia. Some countries have agreed in principle to take back a total of 200 containers, and Malaysia vowed earlier this year to send plastic waste back to the source countries and get them to pay for the transportation costs.

Reuters has more:

Malaysia is negotiating with countries sending their plastic waste to the Southeast Asian nation to take back the trash and is waiving storage fees to clear hundreds of containers of scrap stranded at ports across the country for months, officials say.

Malaysia last year became the world’s main destination for plastic waste after China banned imports of scrap.

The Southeast Asian country upped scrutiny after huge inflows and stopped many containers that looked to unload scrap in Malaysia without the required permits, officials from the port and the government told Reuters this week.

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