Indonesia found illegal waste from the U.S. (Image via Times of Malta)

Indonesia Sends Back Waste to U.S.

Indonesia is joining the bandwagon. Previously, Philippines and Malaysia sent back waste to the western country. This time, Indonesia did the same thing; sending back waste to the U.S.

Indonesia agreed on receiving paper recycling material from the U.S. back in March this year. A Canadian cargo company shipped the waste from Seattle by then. However, the Environment and Forestry Ministry found other waste materials such as plastic, shoes, fabrics, wood scraps, and diapers. Hence, the ministry ordered the waste to be sent back to the origin country. Five containers were sent back to the U.S.

The Waste and Hazardous Waste Management Directorate’s general secretary Sayid Muhadhar stated that the re-export was done to show that Indonesia is committed to protect the environment. Therefore, plastic wastes from other countries are banned to enter the country. Before this incident, there were a lot of plastic wastes which were smuggled to Indonesia. This made Ecological Observations and Wetlands Conservation (Ecoton) created a documentary about it. In that film, it shows that the waste was coming from the U.S.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, has warned other countries if there is any reported malpractices and violations. For instance, on Friday, Batam customs received 65 containers from North America and Europe, which believed to contain toxic waste. Hence, the containers were sealed while a lab examines the samples.

Source: https://www.rt.com/news/461978-indonesia-sends-back-trash/