Malaysia Sends Back Illegal Plastic Waste to U.K.

The United Kingdom (U.K.) has agreed to take back 42 containers of plastic waste that it had illegally shipped to Malaysia.

Malaysiakini reports the decision comes after U.K.’s Environment Agency visited Malaysia’s Penang Port in response to news of an illegal shipment of plastic waste from the U.K.

After China banned imports of certain materials, Malaysia ended up becoming one of the world’s main destinations for plastic waste. The Southeast Asian nation has since been negotiating with countries to take back the trash they’ve shipped off to Malaysia. Since the beginning of the year, Malaysia also has been raiding and shutting down unlicensed plastic recycling facilities to slow an increase of imported scrap materials.

Kyodo News has more:

Britain has agreed to take back 42 containers of plastic waste illegally shipped to Malaysia, the two sides said Monday in a joint statement.

The containers arrived in Penang Port between March 2018 and March 2019 without the necessary import papers, according to the statement by Malaysia's environment ministry and the British High Commission.

"This cooperation signifies a recognition that plastic pollution is a global issue which requires commitment from various countries to address the problem," Malaysian environment minister Yeo Bee Yin said in the statement.

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