Canada Says It Won’t Be Accepting Plastic Waste Sent Back From Malaysia

Earlier in May this year, it was reported that Malaysia would be returning 3,000 tonnes (approx 3 million kilos) of contaminated plastic waste to their countries of origin. These countries include the United States, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

Source: ABC News

However, a spokesman from Canada’s environment ministry has recently stated that the country will not be picking up its plastic waste that was dumped in Malaysia. Environment and Climate Change Canada spokesman Gabrielle Lamontagne said in a statement to Reuters,

“There are no plans for the Canadian government to pick up waste in Malaysia.”

The spokesman added that they have received no information about waste shipments from Canada to Malaysia. Meanwhile, the country’s environment ministry has reached out to the Malaysian government to get more details about this issue.

The Philippines also recently shipped back over 1,500 tonnes (approx 1.5 million kilos) of plastic waste back to Canada, due to arrive by the end of June. Meanwhile, Canada announced that it will accept the waste and treat it at a waste-to-energy facility.

Source: The Star

The parliamentary secretary to Canada’s environment minister was quoted as saying,

“This is a demonstration that we’re going to comply with our international obligations to deal with waste that originates in Canada.”

What are your thoughts on this latest development? Let us know in the comments section!

Also read: For the Past 1 Year, Australia Has Been Dumping 71Mil KG Of Recyclable Plastic Waste in M’sia