[Global Times special Correspondent Ou Xian 'an in Malaysia, Global Times reporter Zheng Xuan] "Take back your garbage!" After inspecting 10 containers of "foreign garbage", Yang Mei Ying, Malaysia's Minister of Energy, science and Technology, Climate change and Environment, called out the common aspirations of Southeast Asian countries on the 28th - refuse to be the garbage dump of Western countries!

According to the Malay Mail reported on the 28th, Yeo Mei Ying said in Port Klang on Tuesday that the 450 tons of toxic plastic packed in the 10 containers were illegally imported from developed countries such as Britain and the United States, and would be "repatriated" to their "home countries" on the same day. By the end of this year, about 3,000 tons of "foreign waste" packed in 50 containers will also be sent back to their source countries. She said developed countries often disguise non-recyclable waste as recyclable and illegally ship it to underdeveloped countries. Malaysia is urging developed countries to re-evaluate their waste disposal methods and stop shipping their waste to other countries. Yeo says the Malaysian government set up a task force in April to investigate the problem of illegal foreign waste, and this is the first phase of Kuala Lumpur's campaign to crack down on "foreign waste." Calling Malaysian companies that illegally import foreign waste "traitors," she said they would be investigated and importers would have to send out the waste within 14 days or face a fine of up to RM100,000 (about 165,000 yuan) or up to two years in prison.

After China announced in 2017 that it would stop importing plastic and other waste, Western countries began to look for "next homes" for their garbage. According to a report by the Guardian and Voice of America, countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia are attractive alternatives due to lax import laws and controls. According to the Greenpeace report, about 3 million tons of waste are shipped to Southeast Asia every year. Almost overnight, Malaysia has become a major importer of "foreign waste." According to Greenpeace, 168,500 tonnes of waste was exported to Malaysia in 2016, but in the first six months of 2018, the figure rose to 456,000 tonnes, mainly from Britain, Germany, Spain, France, Australia and the United States.

"No one can escape the toxic smog," Deutsche Welle reported, adding that the "foreign waste" is causing huge environmental and social harm in the Southeast Asian country: contaminated water sources, withered crops and sickened people, including Peng Lei, who lives in the Kuala Lumpur town of Renjialong. She said that when the plastic was processed by the machines at the recycling plant, it not only stank to the sky, but the smoke also made her lungs ache.

Since last year, Southeast Asian countries have introduced legislation to ban the import of "foreign garbage". The Thai government has announced it will ban the import of plastic waste by 2021. Officials at Indonesian consulates in Europe told Deutsche Welle in April that the country had legislated to stop the import of certain plastic waste from Western countries. The Vietnamese government announced last July that it would stop issuing new waste import permits, according to Reuters. A spokesman for the Philippine president said on Tuesday that the country would pay for a charter ship to send back the Canadian waste. Many people believe that sending waste back to the country of origin is the only way for the West to confront its own waste problem, The Guardian said. Singapore's "Straits Times" said that more than 180 countries around the world recently met in Switzerland to amend the Basel Convention and adopted a "prior informed consent" system, which means that all plastic waste exporters must obtain permission from the destination country in advance. However, Greenpeace said that the ultimate solution lies not in improving recycling, but in drastically cutting plastic production and consumption worldwide.

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