Corruption Promotes Plastic Dumping In Malaysia

High-level corruption involving multiple government agencies is suspected in illegal Chinese plastic recycling companies’ seeming ability to bypass regulations to operate here with worrying environmental impact.It is learned that many errant recycling firms, many of which are from China and operating without permits, are also using Malaysian landfills to illegally dump toxic plastic waste.Selangor officials disclosed this week that a census of 35 such firms in the state led to the discovery that just three were licensed.

Industry sources claimed there is a strong suspicion that the operators of the illegal plants bribed Malaysian officials at both federal and state levels to turn a blind eye to their operations, at the expense of the country’s environmental and waste management laws. The major problem about plastic recycling is not so much coming from local companies, but mostly from illegal Chinese recycling plants that set up shop here. The question is, how were they allowed to set up shops here? Corruption? Most likely.

The issue was first brought to public attention following foreign media reports about Malaysia topping the list of destination for plastic waste exports from the United Kingdom this year. The reports, citing an audit by public spending watchdog National Audit Office’s (NAO) latest, showed that a fifth of some 250,000 tonnes of plastic — used as product packaging — were exported by the UK to Malaysia in the first quarter alone.

China had been the single biggest market for UK’s exports of recyclable packaging material, the NAO noted in its report, but said the communist republic in January banned imports of various waste materials over pollution fears.

Industry sources claimed the ban forced Chinese plastic recycling companies to look to Malaysia as a potential base for relocation, firstly because shipping wastes from China to Malaysia would have been easier and cheaper due to their geographical locations.

But crucially, many of the Chinese plastic recycling operators also felt they could manipulate Malaysia’s “loose regulation”. It’s likely that whispers within the industry gave them the impression that Malaysia was like China a bit, where you can just bribe officials to get things sorted out,” another source from a waste recycling company asserted.