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Plastic Waste Dumped in Malaysia Will Be Returned To UK, US and Others (cnn.com) 133

Posted by msmash from the not-my-problem dept.
Malaysia will return 450 tonnes of contaminated plastic waste to the countries that shipped it, in a refusal to become a dumping ground for the world's trash. From a report: Nine shipping containers at Port Klang, west of Kuala Lumpur, on Tuesday were found to contain mislabeled plastic and non-recyclable waste, including a mixture of household and e-waste. Yeo Bee Yin, minister of energy, science, technology, environment and climate change, said the plastic was shipped from the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Singapore. Five containers of waste were returned to Spain last month.

On April 24, Malaysia launched a joint task force to crack down on the growing problem of illegal plastic waste imports. The authorities have since carried out 10 operations. Last year, China banned plastic waste imports as part of an initiative to clean up its environment. That move caused a ripple effect through global supply chains, as middlemen sought new destinations for their trash, including Malaysia. A recent Greenpeace report found that during the first seven months of 2018, plastic waste exported from the US to Malaysia more than doubled compared to the previous year.
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Plastic Waste Dumped in Malaysia Will Be Returned To UK, US and Others More

Plastic Waste Dumped in Malaysia Will Be Returned To UK, US and Others

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  • The waste was shipped from those countries. But they aren't naming the importers or the exporters. Why?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      (1) good reason: at international level, the general public would not recognize any such company names. They would gloss over unfamiliar names and forget about the issue in a minute. it won't have any impact.
      (2) evil reason: stakeholders at CNN are also stakeholders (or friends of) at the culprit companies and do not want their value to tank.

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It has more to do with the BEHAVIORS of the people in the US who stuff all sorts of garbage into the recycling bins, and the municipalities that sell that contaminated plastic to the shippers than the shippers themselves.

      It would go a long way if you could train US citizens to NOT treat dirty diapers as some sort of valuable treasure, or to get the municipalities to hire people to sort the garbage from the recyclables.

      However that seems to be out of the question due to lack of knowledge on the part of the p

      • The way the article is worded, it sounds like the trash exporters were 'accidentally' mixing garbage with recycling, not just homeowners.

      • Well the only reason cost cutting was possible, was because these countries would accept the trash without it being sorted first at the same cost, and due to lax rules in some countries operators there were able to accept garbage for "recycling" and then just dump it cheaply.

        If operators can no longer just dump trash, they will need to actually process it which means they will either only accept ready sorted material, or charge extra for sorting it prior to processing.

      • Article: "the plastic was shipped from the US, the UK, Australia, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Singapore. Five containers of waste were returned to Spain last month. "
        You: "It has more to do with the BEHAVIORS of the people in the US who stuff all sorts of garbage into the recycling bins, and the municipalities that sell that contaminated plastic to the shippers"

        Your'e not very good at this "reading" thing, are you?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by pete6677 ( 681676 )

      Residential recycling only exists to make people feel better; that there is something the can personally do to "help the environment". It's an overall enormously wasteful practice, and I do my part by throwing all my shit in the trash. At least my old plastics won't end up on some boat to Asia, and will go to an all-American landfill instead.

      • Re:Ascribing national origin is counterproductive (Score:5, Interesting)

        by thereddaikon ( 5795246 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2019 @03:07PM (#58668258)

        Yeah cost effective mass residential recycling was a scam that only seemed to work because its was cheap and easy to dump everything in the third world. Now many of those nations are refusing to take it because of the massive damage its done to their environment. Metal and glass are really the only things that can economically recycled. Paper is generally a bad idea because recycled paper is inferior, better off turning it into compost to use to grow more trees. Plastic generally can't be recycled.

        Want to fix the plastic problem? Stop making disposable items out of plastic. Use plastic only in durable goods.

        • > Yeah cost effective mass residential recycling was a scam that only seemed to work because its was cheap and easy to dump everything in the third world

          Tell that to Sweden that IMPORTS trash because they are so good at recycling that they ran out of domestic trash.

          • Sweden burns a lot of stuff, it isn't the usual conception of recycling, but it makes sense if you have a use for the waste heat.

  • good,... (Score:3)

    by Selur ( 2745445 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2019 @01:16PM (#58667578)

    better let the EU think about what to do with it than blindly dumping it into the ocean and increase the general pollution of the oceans even more,...

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Selur ( 2745445 )

      another idea: how about Trump uses all the plastic waste to form a plastic wall,... unlike barbed wire a plastic wall probably wouldn't be stolen,...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ghoul ( 157158 )

        How about a wall made of dirty diapers? No one is going to put a ladder on top of it to climb it.

    • US, the UK, Australia, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, the Netherlands and Singapore

      better let the EU think about

      Wholly shit, biased much? How much did Putin pay you?

  • People will have to start recycling properly (Score:5, Informative)

    by PrimaryConsult ( 1546585 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2019 @01:22PM (#58667616)

    The "single stream" initiative has created a bunch of lazy recyclers... there's a lot of stuff people mistakenly think can be recycled, like:
    -used pizza boxes (the grease and oil make the cardboard un-reusable)
    -unrinsed food containers (sorry but general tso's chicken isn't recyclable, and is likely going to contaminate the entire bag of recyclables sending it all to the landfill)
    -partially full beverage containers (except water)
    -dirty napkins and paper towels
    -paper beverage cups
    -some forms of Styrofoam (ironically, some forms *can* be recycled but people are trained that all Styrofoam is trash)

    Some places go further and require removing of labels and rinsing of beverage containers.

    When in doubt, look for the number inside the recycle logo. No logo, trash it! Not listed on the acceptable items list for your recycling program? Trash it! /psa

    • The "single stream" initiative has created a bunch of lazy recyclers...

      A lazy recycler is better than a nonexistent one.

      Some places go further and require removing of labels and rinsing of beverage containers.

      Yeah they don't send me a paycheck so that isn't going to happen. Ever. Life is too short to waste it working for someone else who isn't paying you.

      When in doubt, look for the number inside the recycle logo. No logo, trash it! Not listed on the acceptable items list for your recycling program? Trash it!

      Yeah well my local recycling program keeps changing what they accept and what they won't and frankly I don't have the time or inclination to keep up to speed with whatever they will or won't take this week. My opinion is that as long as the plastic is reasonably clean they can sort it out for me. If they want

      • Don't charge. (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        My opinion is that as long as the plastic is reasonably clean they can sort it out for me. If they want me to do it then they can send me a paycheck for my time.

        Recyclers charge us for the pickup and expect us to partially sort and wash our garbage. Then they (used to) sell it. Nice racket while it lasted.

        Plastic is used to much not for us consumers' convenience but for the manufacturer's. Back in the day when glass was used all the time, it was HEAVY and had to be packed specially so it didn't break during shipping. With plastic, it was lighter, no need for all the shipping protection and they can mold it into shapes and colors that you can't do with glass - o

      • No, a lazy recycler is worse than a nonexistent one, because they result in entire batches going to landfill. So, if you're going to be lazy, please just throw it in the trash so that the rest of our stuff still has a chance at escaping a landfill.

        • Guess what? You're stuff's not escaping a landfill anyway, since nobody actually recycles it. They tell you that to make you feel good, and ship it to China. Who won't take it anymore.
          Compost the yard stuff, that's easily separated. Burn the rest of it. You can burn pretty much most of it, IF DONE CORRECTLY. Plastic can be burned. And they can generate energy from it. In fact, they can generate power that might have been used by using oil, etc.

          If the net outcome is less energy is being used to burn the wast

          • I completely agree that incinerator power plants is better than anything currently done now. But unfortunately people in charge go for things that look green rather than things that are efficient uses of materials and manpower. I was just trying to describe the most an individual can do given the circumstances.

            And Malaysia sending back 9 container ships of rejects is a huge carbon waste; while ships and containers headed to China and Southeast Asia is efficient because they arguably would have gone empty

      • A lazy recycler is better than a nonexistent one.

        I'm not sure I'd agree. Someone who doesn't recycle puts all of their waste (recyclable or not) into the trash and it ends up in a landfill. A lazy recycler contaminates the whole recycling bin which gets everyone else's recyclable waste tossed into the landfill because it's too expensive to sort it. It's kind of a case of one bad apple spoiling the bunch.

        What we should really do is focus on the types of things that shouldn't be recycled and try to manufacture those using compostable material. Anything

        • Re:Lazy? Pay me - (No Stripe, No Recycle) (Score:4, Insightful)

          by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2019 @04:32PM (#58668778) Homepage
          The focus should be on manufacturers making recyclable items clearly visible. Instead of that stupid recycling symbol imprinted in a random spot on a container with a tiny confusing number - by now every product with single stream compatibility should be clearly marked with a BIG ASSED COLORED STRIPE around the container so every one on the planet knows only those products are acceptable for recycling. Obviously paper and cardboard can't all have this, but food products and most things that come in cardboard boxes can have this now, with little effort.

          Only striped items go into the recycling bin, now how easy would that be for everyone?

    • unrinsed food containers (sorry but general tso's chicken isn't recyclable, and is likely going to contaminate the entire bag of recyclables sending it all to the landfill)

      I live in a part of the US(the Intermountain West) that is very dry and doesn't have a lot of water.
      This part of the US has near constant battles over water use, and things are getting worse between developers, municipalities, agriculture, etc;
      I try to save water all I can, including having almost no grass at all in my yard.
      When I get my water bill every month, it shows how many gallons I use, how much is considered good/exceptional/bad etc, and then what other users average use is. I consistently sc

      • The system we have now is convoluted.
        If there was something SV should "disrupt", it's garbage.

        I also live in the intermountain west, although I don't really go to any great lengths to save water since I figure it's better to use a bunch of it to force shortages and thus bring about realistic pricing for water so commercial landscaping use diminishes (home users are not that large of a percentage of where water goes). I despise lawns myself but live in a community with an HOA so...

        Anyway, back to your point

    • The single stream recycling containers literally contain a picture of a pizza box as some of the items that can be recycled. I had always thought that the grease, etc means it can't be recycled, but, taking that picture at face value, it seems at least some places will recycle it, I assume if it isn't totally soaked in grease.

      Adding to confusion is that (for example) many different plastics are marked as recyclable, but, the specific recycling program may not recycle all types of plastic.

      With that said, I k

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Bert64 ( 520050 )

      Recycling is a horribly inefficient and wasteful idea...

      Rinsing food containers is often not adequate, and there will still be traces of contamination on them - especially greasy contaminants which are water resistant and difficult to rinse off. Actually cleaning requires significant amounts of water and/or detergents and is quite inefficient on a small scale.

      Most waste foods can be composted, or used as animal feed. You can even compost such things yourself although you'd need space to do so as the process

      • I do agree that incineration is a better route for a lot of things. But, working with the system that's in place now, it's either rinse to recycle or toss out. And yes, if there's too much stuff stuck to a piece of plastic (microwave meals are a big one) that it wastes significant water to rinse out, it's better to just toss out.

    • -used pizza boxes (the grease and oil make the cardboard un-reusable)

      Maybe the bottom of the pizza box, but usually not the top.

  • As a result. Both in the ocean, continental interiors, and on even poorer countries.

  • Tech solution? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2019 @01:26PM (#58667650) Journal

    Reprocessing trash seems like a perfect application of AI and maybe spectral sensing. Is it just a hard problem, or that nobody is devoting sufficient resources to implementing it?

    If bots can do it cheaply, it wouldn't matter much where it takes place.

    • It's too energy intensive now. Stick it in a landfill until we have better AI and power generation.

      The problem is recycling is a fig leaf to make people feel better about all their wasteful packaging. It's just corporate welfare but good luck getting rid of any of that.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Tablizer ( 95088 )

        It's too energy intensive now. Stick it in a landfill until we have better AI and power generation.

        Approximately by what degree is it "too energy intensive"? 2x? 20x? 100x?

        When humans did it, was it cheaper energy-wise, or does one typically assume those people will exist regardless of whether they have recycling jobs?

        The problem is recycling is a fig leaf to make people feel better about all their wasteful packaging.

        When humans in China were doing it, separation mostly served a useful purpose. Even if we s

        • When humans in China were doing it, separation mostly served a useful purpose. Even if we start dumping all of it in landfills, having it seperated may still simplify later recycling if an economical solution is found such that it's dug back up and re-processed.

          Separating trash is one thing, recycling it is another. We should really reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste we produce, though. Packaging in particular should be genuinely recyclable, or compostable.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's possible but not that cost effective. Materials are too cheap.

      It's a common problem. About 20-30% of clean water is lost to leakage, but it's just not worth locating and fixing an underground pipe that is only costing you 10 bucks a month.

  • Good (Score:3)

    by lactose99 ( 71132 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2019 @01:39PM (#58667730)

    Maybe this will help uncover the true cost of plastic up the supply chain, which is the only real way this problem will be fixed.

  • Send it to Sweden (Score:5, Informative)

    by Ranger ( 1783 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2019 @01:45PM (#58667770) Homepage
    I hear Sweden has been so successful at dealing with recyclables they've run out of rubbish. [independent.co.uk] So why not send our plastic there?

    • We do. Sweden imports millions of tonnes of garbage from the UK and EU (quoted separately partially due to Brexit, but not the least because the UK exports more garbage to Sweden than the rest of the EU combined).

      • We do. Sweden imports millions of tonnes of garbage from the UK and EU

        Right, but how does Sweden deal with those millions of tonnes?

        • The domestic trash recycling figures for Sweden are:

          15,5% Biological recycling (composting etc)
          33,7% Material recycling (metal, paper, plastics, glass)
          50,3% Burnt for energy (mostly unrecyclable plastics, paper and wood)
          0,5% Landfill

          The imported trash is just a big mash and can't easily be separated so about 90% of it is burnt for energy and 10% is recycled.

        • Right, but how does Sweden deal with those millions of tonnes?

          They extradite it to the US.

        • Right, but how does Sweden deal with those millions of tonnes?

          Recycling plants and incinerators used to generate heating.

  • Good For Them (Score:3)

    by Only Time Will Tell ( 5213883 ) on Tuesday May 28, 2019 @01:53PM (#58667824)
    Nations need to be held responsible to handle their trash/recyclables in a proper manner. It is far too easy to continue 'business as usual' when the end product is someone else's problem.

  • Use a modified Bender solution: take those containers filled with trash, steam the ship over the Mariana Trench, and push them overboard. Problem solved!

  • I am failing to understand why shipping garbage (plastic or otherwise) to another country thousands of miles away is a thing. It can't possibly be cheaper to do that than simply digging a big hole in the ground in your own country and burying the garbage.

    Only exception I can think of is very small countries like Singapore that has no remote unpopulated land to bury the garbage. For them it would make economic sense to ship their garage to foreign lands. But clearly US is not lacking such places.

    Is it becaus

  • Whoever can figure this out has a fricking gold mine at their doors! That is if they can sort, clean, recycle it all.

    I was at a recycling plant years ago. People were using the recycle bin as a trash can. Half eaten food, smoothie type crappy drinks, it was a mouse/rat's dream!

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