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Malaysia workshop focused on hazardous waste imports

Ieva Rucevska

By GRID-Arendal

October 3^rd, 2016

The city of Malaka has been at the heart of east-west marine trade for hundreds of years. It sits on the Strait of Malacca which connects the Pacific and Indian oceans. Traders from Arabia, Africa and Persia used the strait to reach China centuries before it was “discovered” by Europeans.

Today about one-quarter of all the world’s goods pass through the strait. The port of Klang, Malaysia, is a modern facility that has replaced the role played by the historic trade center of Malaka, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Klang receives more than 10 million containers annually and and the port is preparing to welcome more mega container ships, each carrying as many as 18,000 containers.

Among other goods, Port of Klang also receives containers with hazardous waste such as contaminated plastics and metals, electronic waste, oily parts of discarded vehicles and other hazardous waste shipped from regions such as Europe for recycling or disposal. Waste particularly paper, plastic and metals are valuable materials which can be recycled and used to manufacture new goods. However, the transnational trade of contaminated waste is banned.

Malaysia workshop focused on hazardous waste imports

Malaysia workshop focused on hazardous waste imports

Imported scrap plastic container in Malaysia. Royal Malaysian Customs Department.

But how much illegal waste is coming in? How can ships containing this material be intercepted before they arrive in Malaysia? How can legal shipments be distinguished from those that are illegal?

These and other questions were discussed at a recent national training workshop on combating illegal trade in chemicals and waste held in Malaka. UN Environment with support from GRID-Arendal and Environmental Technical Assistance and Information Exchnage Facility of the European Union, cooperated with the Royal Malaysian Customs Academy to organize a four-day training workshop on Combating Illegal Trade in Chemicals and Waste.

The workshop’s objective was to increase individual and institutional capacity on combating illegal trade, share experience and strengthen cooperation between customs and competent authorities.

“Malaysia is one of the destination countries for illegal waste shipments,” says Ieva Rucevska, a representative of GRID-Arendal at the workshop. “There have been a number of seizures of illegal shipments containing hazardous waste but the country lacks important knowledge and a way to implement existing regulations to combat the illegal waste trade, and to repatriate illegal shipments.”

The workshop was held at the Royal Malaysian Customs Academy in Malaka, an appropriate location to bring together customs officials and environmental authorities who rarely work together to combat illegal waste shipments.

Rucevska, who is one of GRID-Arendal’s experts on the illegal waste trade, says coordination and cooperation are vital to combating the problem.

“This lack of coordination and knowledge means there is no way to send waste back to its point of origin,” she says. “Port Klang is the 13th largest container port in the world. According to the customs presentation at the workshop illegal waste shipments that are discovered are tendered out for recycling or disposal.

“That means all illegal shipments stay in Malaysia and imported hazardous waste is just dumped in the country.”

Rucevska says the workshop was “high quality and exciting,” adding one participant from the Malaysian Department of Environment called it “an eye-opener.”

Following the session, the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment committed to improve cooperation between environmental authorities and customs in the country.

By Hafiz343 - Own work, GFDL, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3288132

The workshop also demonstrated how intelligence is gathered and exchanged in real time, Rucevska says.

“During the workshop, the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office for Asia and the Pacific – one of the resource organizations at the workshop – received and passed on intelligence about illegal shipments of contaminated plastic on the way from Europe to Port Klang in Malaysia. The information has been passed on to the customs division at the port.”

Photo Credits: Marine Vessel Traffic (http://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/2013/12/port-klang-container-terminal.html)

“International networks are crucial to trace illegal shipments and these workshops offer a real possibility to work efficiently.”

Footnotes

Photo Credit: GRID-Arendal / Ieva Rucevska

FootNotes

Photo Credit: GRID-Arendal / Ieva Rucevska

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