Egrets surround a group of cows as they gather on the top a rubbish pile at a waste dump in Meulaboh, Aceh province on Jun 8, 2019. (Photo: AFP) Jakarta (VNA) - Indonesiahas returned five containers of rubbish to the US and will not become a“dumping ground”, said local officials.
Senior environment ministry officialSayid Muhadhar told the press on June 15 that the containers were supposed tocontain only paper scrap, according to the customs documents. Instead they wereloaded with other waste including bottles, plastic waste, and diapers.
The five containers – owned by a Canadiancompany – were shipped from Seattle in the US to Indonesia’s second biggestcity Surabaya in late March, Muhadhar said.
It was not immediately clear where the rubbish originatedfrom.
Indonesia is currently examining several other containers inJakarta’s port and the city of Batam near Sumatra island.
It is the latest country to return imported rubbish afterneighbouring Malaysia vowed to ship back hundreds of tonnes of plastic wastelast month.
The Philippines has ordered tonnes of garbage dumped in thecountry to be shipped back to Canada, sparking a diplomatic row between the twocountries.
For years China received the bulk of scrap plastic fromaround the world, but closed its doors to foreign refuse last year in an effortto clean up its environment.
Huge quantities of waste have since been redirected to SoutheastAsia, including Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Around 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced everyyear. Much of that ends up in landfill or in the seas, according to the World WideFund for Nature.-VNA
VNA
