BUTTERWORTH: The Penang Customs Department today revealed that another 132 containers filled with plastic waste imported from foreign countries were found at the North Butterworth Container Terminal (NBCT).
Its director Datuk Saidi Ismail said this brings the total number of such containers to 397.
He added that each 40-foot container carries a maximum payload of 28 tonnes. The total amount of plastic waste weighed an estimated 11,116 tonnes.
“We are finding more containers with plastic waste from foreign countries during our inspection at the port,” he told reporters at the Penang Customs Department store in Bagan Jermal here today.
Late last month, Saidi revealed that there were 265 containers filled with plastic wastes that had been stranded at NBCT since January this year, incurring some RM5 million in port charges.
He had also said that the plastic wastes were imported by 11 companies under false codes and without Approved Permits (AP).
On Monday, state Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said the state had been instructed by the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry to send the 265 containers back to their country of origin.
He added that the state would be negotiating with the companies on freight charges, cost of returning, and an undertaking and assurance that it would not dump the waste into the ocean.
Saidi said of the 397 containers with plastic waste, the majority came from Hong Kong (94), United States (68), Germany (28) and Canada (20).
“These containers are imported in by the same 11 companies under a different code and without the AP,” he added.
Saidi said legal action, including issuing compounds of RM1,000 per container, had been taken against the companies.
Meanwhile, he also revealed that at least five containers filled with ‘clean’ plastics with APs were arriving at the Penang port on a daily basis.
Saidi said this raised questions over the effectiveness of the plastic waste ban.
In October last year, the Housing and Local Government Ministry issued a permanent ban on the import of plastic wastes.
Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin had said a circular had been issued to all local councils, especially in Selangor and Penang, to shut down all illegal plastic factories.
She had said all plastic waste factories would need approval from the ministry when applying for new APs to import plastic wastes.
China’s ban on plastic imports earlier last year saw a number of Chinese companies relocating their operations to Malaysia.
A news report claimed that Malaysia's imports of plastic wastes from its 10 biggest source-countries jumped to 456,000 tonnes between January and July 2018, versus 316,600 tonnes purchased in all of 2017 and 168,500 tonnes in 2016.