PUTRAJAYA, Jan 15 — The Federal government is considering heavier penalties to curb illegal plastic waste operations, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said.
She said the current RM300 fine is inadequate for a multi-billion ringgit business.
“If operating illegally, by law the fine is only RM300 for first offence, and another RM300 for second offence… what is that for a RM30 billion business?” she told reporters after a public lecture on public waste management here.
Zuraida said her ministry will also consider imposing a fee as well as charges for every tonne imported, as currently the companies are only required to pay for the license issued by the local councils.
She pointed out that contrary to what the public might think, the Federal government does not allow the importation of raw dirty plastics.
She said Malaysia only accepts plastic wastes from developed countries such as Europe, United Stated, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.
“We need to clarify that the government does not accept the import of dirty plastics into the country.
“The dirty plastic waste that are seen dumped are not those that we have approved and these companies may have broken some rules and committed fraudulent declaration when filling in the forms with the Customs Department,” she said.
Zuraida said as the production of consumer goods from processed clean plastics is a promising income generator for the country if done correctly, the government will slowly move away from importing plastic waste and only use local resources.
“We are planning to phase out and take into consideration the local plastics needed to be used for export. If our recycling industry is active, we would be able to collect these plastic wastes and reduce the import,” she said, adding that it would take about three years to gradually phase out from the use of imported plastic waste.
Zuraida said the ministry had recently reopened the application for the plastic waste license since it was frozen last July, and 19 companies had applied.
They will be scrutinised on their eligibility to be issued plastic waste Approved Permit (AP), she emphasised.
“We are visiting the site of the 19 applicants and so far we have visited 13 of it,” she said.
