'Recycled' plastic dumped overseas is being sent back, and residents want no more

Wednesday, 25 September 2019

South East Asia is New Zealand's dumping ground for 'recycled' plastic, and affected residents want it stopped.

It comes as Indonesia announced it was shipping recycled plastic back to New Zealand as it was too contaminated for it to deal with.

Associate minister for the environment Eugenie Sage said officials from the Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials were working to find out how many containers of waste were being sent back, and when.

'It is likely that only a portion of the waste in any returned containers will actually be able to be recycled here.'

* Malaysia has started sending plastic waste back

* Where does your recycling go from the yellow-lidded bin?

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

* Australia's recycling contained 'toxic' rubbish**

Malaysia, Indonesia, The Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam now take about 58 per cent of New Zealand's plastic waste exports by value - up from 22 per cent five years ago.

Sage said the companies collecting recycling needed to follow export guidelines.

'Any returned containers to New Zealand would highlight who is abiding by the rules and who is not,' she said.

'Businesses and the public can also help by ensuring what they're putting in to the recycling is clean.'

A worker sorts plastic bottles and cups to be recycled at a collection point in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Malaysia resident turned activist Pua Lay Peng, who met Sage last year, said New Zealand's recycling exports were harming her community.

'Indirectly, the exported trash has helped a group of profit seekers use heartless and immoral ways to deal with that trash, causing many people to suffer illnesses.'

A worker sorts plastic items to be recycled at a collection point in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Greenpeace Malaysia campaigner Heng Kiah Chun said Malaysia and other countries shouldn't be used as a dumping ground.

Associate minister for the environment Eugenie Sage says officials are working to find out how many containers will be sent back, and when.

Nine per cent of plastic waste had ever actually been recycled, 12 per cent was incinerated, and the 79 per cent left was in the landfill or the natural environment, he said.

'Recycling alone cannot fix our plastic pollution problem,' he said.

Many councils have already stopped collecting types three to seven plastics for recycling, sending them to the dump instead.

Greenpeace campaigned last year on the basis that recycling was a myth.

Oceans campaigner Jessica Desmond said it was 'completely unacceptable' for nations like New Zealand to be exporting waste overseas.

'Plastic waste has hugely detrimental impacts on the environment and health of those communities, polluting their land, waterways and atmosphere,' she said.

'This export mode locks us into a cycle where rich nations like ours can continue consuming at an ever growing rate and never worry about the repercussions, because we don't have to deal with them.'

The most problematic plastic items needed to be banned, including straws, cutlery, balloons and cigarette butts, she said.

'We simply can't recycle our way out of this mess … clear plans must be implemented to reduce plastic being produced.'