Kiwis' recycling is piling up in Malaysia and being burnt in secret, environmentalists say

Wednesday, 5 December 2018

Video captured by the Kuala Langat environmental group shows the burning and collection of other countries' recycling waste in Malaysia.

The plastic in Kiwis' recycling bins is being dumped as a mountain of waste in Malaysia or being burnt in secret.

That was the message delivered at a talk in Wellington on Wednesday titled: Recycling is a myth.

Pua Lay Peng, visiting from Malaysia, said her village had become a dumping ground for countries like New Zealand, and it was poisoning her home.

'We came here to tell New Zealand that recycling is not so great as it's being thought,' she said.

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'It's creating a second pollution problem; not in your house, but in my house.'

According to export data, 4000 tonnes of plastic was shipped from this country to Malaysia in the first half of 2018 after China stopped accepting the world's recycling.

A Coke Zero can from New Zealand found dumped in Malaysia.

It is being illegally burned in open-air, dumped close to water or just left to rot, Lay Peng said.

Lay Peng, who works as a community activist for the Kuala Langat Environmental group, said she would leave home in the middle of the night to find plastic being burned in secret open fires in her village of Jenjarom.

The fumes from burning plastic were harming Malaysian residents in villages and lingering in their homes.

'You can smell something very, very unpleasant. My house is well occupied by these toxic fumes,' Lay Peng said.

'Our residents are suffering a lot of respiratory problems.'

Dogs take refuge on a piece of rubbish at a dumping site in Malaysia, where some New Zealand recycling is being left to rot, or burnt.

The problem was not just in her village, Jenjarom, but in most coastal villages. It would get worse as plastic use increased, she said.

'Plastic waste is becoming very dangerous to us.'

Kiwis needed to be more aware that recycling wouldn't make waste disappear, she said.

'New Zealand may think that they have a very high recycling rate, but really, it's being sent to other places like Malaysia, and not being recycled.'

At Malaysian dumping sites, Greenpeace found plastic items clearly marked as having been purchased in New Zealand.

People in developed countries felt like recycling was a solution, but that myth was encouraging more and more waste, she said.

Lay Peng and the Kuala Langat Environmental group approached Greenpeace with their concerns.

Greenpeace's report 'The Recycling Myth' says there is regulation violations in the disposal of this waste, including dumping and open-air burning, and illegal practises contributing to environmental pollution and harmful health impacts for Malaysians.

Malaysia is the new dumping site for plastic recycling from more than 19 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, it says.

A pet food package found in Malaysia by Greenpeace, which says distributed in New Zealand.

At the dumping sites, Greenpeace found plastic items clearly marked as having been purchased in New Zealand.

Greenpeace Malaysia public engagement campaigner Heng Kiah Chun said Malaysia was overwhelmed by the waste.

'The international waste trade system itself is broken and based on false assumptions about what really happens with waste.'

Globally, only nine per cent of plastic waste was actually recycled, Kiah Chun said.

Twelve per cent was burnt, and the remaining 79 per cent was in landfill or the natural environment, he said.

Since China banned plastic waste imports in January 2018, countries in Southeast Asia – particularly Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia – have accepted an increased amount of plastic waste.

Between January and July Malaysia imported 754,000 metric tonnes of plastic.

Heng Kiah Chun, Lay Peng Pua and Emily Hunter from Greenpeace New Zealand are speaking in Wellington on December 5, Christchurch December 6, and Auckland December 10.