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6/07/2019

Topic Reading-Vol.2613-6/7/2019


Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Plastic waste dumped in Malaysia will be returned to UK, US and others
Ever since China banned plastic waste imports to clean up its environment last year, countries in Southeast Asia like the Philippines and Malaysia has seen a surge of containers filled with all sorts of waste. Even if they are all recyclable plastic wastes as documented, the sheer volume is way beyond their recycling capacity. But most of those wastes were found to be contaminated plastic waste or non-plastic garbage. In short, developed countries like the US, UK, Canada, and the Netherlands have been exporting their own wastes in containers to Asia. (covered in Vol.2579 on May 4)
So, last month, the governments of 187 countries, excluding the US, agreed to control the movement of plastic waste between national borders to combat the dangerous effects of plastic pollution around the world. (covered in Vol.2594 on May 19)
Now, Malaysia is returning 450 tons of contaminated plastic waste to their origins, like the Philippines is doing to Canada that shipped tons of mixed wastes in containers labeled as plastic waste for recycling. Where will all this excess amount of plastic or non-plastic wastes go eventually? It seems that the world is producing more materials and goods than humans can manage. Where is your shopping bag or reusable water bottle?
Enjoy reading and think about what you can do to the global environment.

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