A custom staff in East Java is holding a newspaper page, as a symbol of ending the waste import. (Image via Kompas)

Indonesia to Export Waste Back to Australia

Indonesia announced on Tuesday, July 9, that they are going to send waste back to Australia. It is reported that Indonesia and Australia made an agreement for Australia to send Indonesia paper waste. However, when the waste containers came, it turned out the waste also consists of other wastes such as plastic bottles and used diapers. Because Australia has violated the agreement, Indonesian’s ministry of environment and forestry stated they are going to re-export the waste.

The discovery of plastic bottles and used diapers happened when the custom staffs were doing inspection for each container. A spokesman from the East Java customs stated that the purpose of sending back the waste is to protect Indonesia’s environment, especially East Java, from hazardous and toxic materials. It is reported the containers of waste arrived in Surabaya, East Java, from Brisbane.

This is not the first time Indonesia to send back waste to the origin country. Last month, Indonesia sent waste back to U.S. after receiving unwanted waste. Quite similar to the Australia case, Indonesia and U.S. agreed on receiving paper recycling material from U.S. However, when the containers came, the waste consists of plastic, shoes, fabrics, wood scraps and diapers. Due to this, Indonesia sent the waste back to U.S.

Indonesia is not the only one that is doing this. The neighbor countries, Malaysia and Philippines did the same thing. This waste problem is actually started when China prohibited western countries to export waste to their country in 2018. This makes western countries export their waste to South East Asian countries. However, many South East Asian countries refuse to receive the waste, and sending it back instead.

Source: https://internasional.kompas.com/read/2019/07/09/14392131/indonesia-kembalikan-210-ton-sampah-ke-australia