PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Three countries have verbally agreed to take 89 containers of waste material back without any cost to Malaysia, said Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin on Thursday (Oct 3).

“It will take at least six weeks for the documentation of these 89 containers to be completed,” she said, declining to name the three countries.

Ms Yeo said the process is tedious because there are international procedures to adhere to, as per the Basel Convention.

Still, she stressed that Malaysia is committed to sending the waste back to their countries of origin, “no matter how complex the process or how complex the issue is.”

Ms Yeo said this when asked to comment on a report in The Star on Wednesday on the large number of containers with waste material that were stuck in various ports in Malaysia because they had nowhere to go.

The report quoted an industry source as saying these containers were stuck because neither the senders from the country of origin nor the party that imported the material could be traced.

“This source is most likely hoping that the government will dispose of the waste here and sell it in Malaysia,” said Ms Yeo, adding that unreturned waste had been found in Port Klang, Penang and Sarawak.

“Don’t hope that will happen. We will send the waste back. To prevent such incidences in future, we will block the containers at port and make sure they – either the importer, exporter or country of origin – pay for the waste to go home,” she said.

Meanwhile, since May this year, 11 containers loaded with waste material have been sent back to their countries of origin. These countries are Australia, Bangladesh, Spain and Saudi Arabia.

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