Malaysia imported plastic waste crisis (Jenjarom)

In January 2018 China largely closed to imports of plastic waste, and waste sent for recycling was then directed to Malaysia. C4 Center reported that 754,000 tonnes of plastic waste were imported in the first seven months of 2018. A figure of 870,000 tonnes for the whole of 2018, about three times the 2016 level, with waste arriving from more than 19 countries including the US, the UK and Australia, has also been reported (Greenpeace, as reported); it is not independently verified.

Unlicensed plants that burned plastic opened around Jenjarom, in Kuala Langat district, Selangor, and worked at night. A resident aged 64 told the New Straits Times in 2019 that he woke at 2 a.m. choking on the smell of burning plastic, and that his whole family woke the same way. A neighbour aged 45 said he had headaches and fainted when the smoke spread. The plants in the town were reported to have processed about 17,000 tonnes of dirty plastic.

Pua Lay Peng, a local chemist, said there had been an unbearable smell in the air since February 2018 and that high fences prevented anyone seeing inside the plants. Officials inspected 38 plants in July 2018 and only 3 had a recycling licence. Fourteen plants were closed; Pua said 4 of them reopened. The Kuala Langat Environmental Action Group, which she founded, documented more than 40 unlicensed plants. She said she received death threats and that red paint was thrown at her home as a warning.

In January 2020 Malaysia returned 150 containers of plastic waste, 3,737 tonnes, to 13 countries; this was stated as about 0.4% of the roughly 870,000 tonnes received in 2018. More than 300 facilities in the country were reported closed between 2018 and 2021. In 2023 C4 Center reported that about 17,000 tonnes of plastic were still on the ground in Jenjarom.