Malaysia’s Plastic Waste Problem
Who on earth would import plastic waste into its own country? Well, Malaysia.
Malaysia, ranking eighth among nations that mismanage plastic waste AND second in Asia for annual per capita plastic use, really has not much to be proud of when it comes to its plastic waste problem. But the question is, how did it become like this for Malaysia?
Firstly, plastic production and consumption are at alarming levels in Malaysia. There are more than 1300 plastic manufacturers in Malaysia, making it one of the largest plastic production industries globally. In fact, plastic packaging took up 48% of Malaysia’s market share in 2018.
And of course, such levels of production would not be occurring if it was not fueled by high demand for consumption. ‘Tapau’ packing (takeaway)? Plastic. Party utensils? Plastic. Food delivery packing? Plastic. Online shopping packaging? Plastic. Maggi mee packaging (instant noodles)? Plastic. With Malaysians turning to plastic as a quick solution in practically every scenario, it is no wonder that post-consumer plastic waste generation in Malaysia is estimated to be more than 1 million tonnes a year (according to a report by WWF Malaysia). That’s around 1.7 times the weight of the Petronas Twin Towers!
These high levels of production and consumption are definitely not helped by the lack of recycling and waste management in Malaysia. Although Malaysia’s recycling rate has seen positive growth every year, its recycling rate lies at 28%, which is still relatively low compared to developed countries. The local recycling industry usually only concentrates on recycling plastic that is easily retrievable and holds high value, such as PET mineral water bottles. Low-quality plastics used in food packaging are rarely ever recycled due to their low incentives, resulting in local landfills being filled with these cheap quality plastic wrappers and packaging.
High levels of production, consumption, and lack of recycling are not Malaysia’s only plastic waste problems, though. Does anyone recall when Malaysia became the world’s dumpsite in 2018? After China stopped buying nearly all plastic waste in January 2018, Malaysia became the largest recipient of global plastic waste, where it imported over 850,000 metric tons of plastic waste. These plastic waste imports included non-recyclable plastic waste, severely contaminated plastic waste, or other mixed plastic wastes. These plastics ended up dumped, burned in illegal recycling factories, or simply abandoned. To this day, much of the imported plastics that slipped into Malaysia still remain abandoned and untreated.
Besides, although the government has stepped up its measures to prevent plastic imports and crack down on illegal recycling factories, it has yet to completely ban imports of plastic waste altogether (not all states have done so). In addition, much more resources will have to be spent on enforcing that operating recycling facilities with legal permits are complying to environmental regulations. Inspection will also have to be carried out regularly to ensure that illegal recycling factories are not simply relocating after being told to shut down.
With all these pressing issues of plastic waste that the nation has to address, will Malaysia be able to realize its goal of Roadmap Towards Zero Single-use Plastics 2018–2030? It is not for me to say for sure, but it’ll definitely be a challenging task that will need all stakeholders, all Malaysians, to actively make a change to their lifestyles toward a more sustainable future.
By: Kayden Owee
