[Global network reporter Zhu Mengying] We are "not a dustbin", following the Philippines and Indonesia to return garbage from Europe and the United States, Cambodia announced on the 17th that it would send 1,600 tons of plastic waste back to the United States and Canada.

(On July 16, containers containing plastic waste were found in Cambodia's Sihanoukville port.

The Cambodian environment ministry announced that 83 containers containing 1,600 tons of plastic waste would be sent back to Canada and the United States, the Guardian reported. The 83 containers were found at the port of Sihanoukville on Monday, a spokesman for the country's environment minister said.

"Cambodia is not a foreign garbage bin for disposing of outdated e-waste, and the government is also against recycling any imported plastic waste and lubricants." Seventy of the 83 containers were shipped from the United States and the other 13 from Canada, according to the spokesman.

A government committee looking into the matter will investigate how and why the containers ended up in Cambodia, and any company found to be involved in importing the waste will be fined and taken to court, the spokesman added. Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said in a statement at a cabinet meeting last week that the country is not a dumping ground for any kind of waste and does not allow the import of any kind of plastic waste and other recyclables, the report said.

The report also mentioned that in May this year, 187 countries signed a treaty giving them the right to block imports of plastic waste that is contaminated or difficult to recycle. But the United States is one of a handful of countries that have not signed.

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