EU plastic waste exports to Malaysia soar despite government’s vow to stop influx

The environment minister’s pledge to stop Malaysia from becoming ‘the world’s rubbish bin’ is seemingly undercut by new EU data

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A worker sorts through plastic waste to recycle in the suburbs of Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:24pm, 16 Oct 2024Updated: 4:28pm, 16 Oct 2024

Malaysia is the world’s second-largest dumping ground for plastic waste from the European Union, new data shows, seemingly undermining a vow from the government to prevent the Southeast Asian nation from becoming a dumping ground for detritus from around the world.

An influx of plastic waste has overwhelmed Malaysia in recent years as it remains a major destination for rubbish discarded by Western countries unwilling to dispose of it domestically.

Environment Minister Nik Nazmi declared in June that the government does not Malaysia to become “the world’s rubbish bin” in the face of reports about the booming trade in legally imported waste materials from the West alongside illicit imports, some run by Chinese gangs.

However, data from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office, suggests the opposite is happening, with a 35 per cent increase in plastic waste being sent from the bloc to Malaysia last year over 2022.

A container filled with plastic waste from Australia in Port Klang, Malaysia, in 2019. Photo: AP

The EU exported 8.5 million tonnes of paper, plastic and glass to other countries in 2023, a 34 per cent increase from the year before, with just over a fifth of it destined for dumps in Malaysia, Eurostat said.