PETALING JAYA: End the reign of “waste colonialism” as Malaysia is now the second largest-dumping ground for Europe’s plastic waste, say environmentalists.
They said this is a modern form of exploitation, where wealthier nations offload their environmental burdens onto developing countries, perpetuating an unjust global waste trade.
Eurostat, the European Union’s (EU) data office, recently reported a 35% increase in plastic waste sent from the bloc to Malaysia in 2023 compared with 2022.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia honorary secretary Mageswari Sangaralingam said a rich and developed country should have the capacity to manage its own waste.
“Instead of reducing production and investing in infrastructure for recycling, these countries choose to transfer their responsibility to developing and under-resourced countries.
“Much of the plastic produced is single-use and of little or no recycling value, but the waste is still destined for recycling operations.
“What we keep stressing is, why does Malaysia have to bear the brunt of recycling imported waste?” she said in a recent interview.
Mageswari said due to the huge scale of waste transfer into the country, the government is unable to monitor or inspect all shipments of waste.
Global waste watchdog group Basel Action Network researcher Wong Pui Yi said Malaysia is at risk of seeing more plastic waste as neighbouring countries are phasing out their plastic waste imports.
She proposed that Malaysia follow its neighbours’ moves – for example, Thailand is phasing out its plastic waste initiative starting 2025.
“Vietnam is introducing a new rule that only factories that process plastic waste into new plastic products can import plastic waste,” she said.
Wong also pointed out some serious challenges for Malaysia in managing its domestic waste properly.
“Most of our landfills are open dumps, not sanitary landfills.
“What is happening to all the residual waste from these imports that cannot be recycled?
“We must take this opportunity during the EU plastic waste export ban to enhance our waste collection by incentivising the creation of material recovery facilities, and enforce segregation-at-source for all waste streams – from households to industries, commercial entities, and institutions,” she added.
One of the ways to resolve the issue, according to A Greener Malaysia founder Dave Avran, is for Malaysia to focus on taking proactive measures by becoming a leader in plastic waste management.
“While it is clear that the EU is exporting large quantities of waste, Malaysia has the potential to become a leader in sustainable waste management.
“Instead of viewing waste imports as a burden, Malaysia could invest in high-tech recycling facilities that process waste into valuable resources,” he said when contacted.
Avran said countries like Sweden and Finland have developed successful models of managing waste imports by enforcing stringent regulations and using advanced technologies.
The Eurostat report also revealed that the EU exported 8.5 million tonnes of paper, plastic and glass to other countries in 2023, up 34% from the year before, of which over a fifth was destined for dumps in Malaysia.
For exports of recyclable plastic, the data site said Turkiye was the largest destination at 22%, followed by Malaysia at 21% and Indonesia with 19%.
The volume exported into Malaysia amounted to 283,000 tonnes in 2023, an increase of 99,000 tonnes from the previous year.
According to reports, EU lawmakers in November last year pledged to ban exports of plastic waste to countries outside the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which consists of high-income economies and developed countries, starting from mid-2026.
Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had declared in June this year that the government did not want the country to become the “world’s rubbish bin”.
In April, the government established the Malaysian Plastic Sustainability Roadmap (2021-2030) and the Malaysian Roadmap Towards Zero Single-Use Plastics (2018-2030).
Currently, negotiations on the Global Plastic Treaty are still ongoing.
