IPOH: The Department of Environment (DoE) has strongly denied recent claims by British media outlets that a huge, unmanaged plastic waste dump sits in a jungle just outside of the city, here.
The alleged “six metre-deep plastic waste dump” cited by the BBC and Daily Mail Online is actually a waste material site operated by a legitimate company which processes garbage into fuel, Bernama reported.
“The company operates in the IGB Industrial Area in Tasek, and has not violated any regulations,” said the department’s director, Norazizi Adinan.
He said the company – Resourceco Asia (M) Sdn Bhd – has been operating legally since 2011; is being monitored by the Ipoh City Council; and abides by the Environment Quality Act 1974. It is not a fly-by-night outfit operating under jungle cover.
The company, which collects discarded plastics and fabrics for processing into fuel or for use in cement processing plants, hosts approximately two tonnes of waste products at its site.
Each month, the company buys between three and 4.5 tonnes of garbage from various industries and commercial bodies for recycling.
As for the supposed exposé by the British media, Resourceco Asia said a group of four foreign reporters entered its collection site last December.
“We invited them to come to the office to give them a brief description of what happens (here), but they refused and proceeded to the disposal site to take pictures using drones,” said the company’s operations director, K. Muralindran.
He added that Resourceco Asia had lodged a police report on the incident at the Kampung Tawas police station on Dec 14.