According to the 'Russia Today' website reported on the 16th, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry said on Friday that it had returned five containers of garbage to the United States and said that Indonesia would not become another 'world dump.'
According to reports, this batch of garbage was shipped from Canada to Seattle in early March this year. It is understood that this batch of 'goods' should have been paper-recyclable materials, but the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry has found many 'impurities' in five containers - there are 'a considerable amount' of various types of plastic waste. It even includes shredded wood, fabrics and diapers. According to Sayid Muhadha, Secretary General of the Indonesian Association of Hazardous Waste Management, “Although the container is from Canada, the issuing country is the United States.” The Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry said that the garbage will be “repatriated”.
RT said that earlier this month, Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry Bakar warned that any illegally imported garbage would be immediately 'repatriated.' He stressed that the Indonesian government will also focus on investigating related malfeasance or illegal activities. According to the Jakarta Post, just this Friday, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry also announced the results of another batch of 'foreign garbage'. The results showed that 65 samples from North American and European containers received by the Bataan Customs were found to contain toxic waste.
According to the report, as China announced the cessation of import of 'foreign garbage' in January 2018, Indonesia's plastic waste import growth rate reached 141%, totaling more than 280,000 tons, breaking its record in the past decade.
According to RT, China's “foreign garbage ban” has forced Western countries lacking garbage collection capacity to find new “markets” in Asia, and this situation has become more severe after Indonesia banned the import of solid plastic waste. A large amount of rubbish in the United States, Europe and Australia has begun to flow to Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, and these countries have also taken measures to protect the environment: Vietnam has suspended the issuance of new garbage import permits, while Thailand has issued a ban on garbage imports, while Malaysia And the Philippines has recently returned a large amount of garbage. Prior to this, Indonesia had returned dozens of illegally “entrained” plastic garbage containers in 2015 and 2016.
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