The Housing and Local Government Ministry has permanently stopped the issuance of import permits (AP) for plastic waste effective today, said its minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.

She said apart from health and environmental factors, the move was among others, was to serve as a catalyst towards empowering the local plastic industry over the next three years.

“The local plastic industry will play major roles, thus stopping dependency on materials imported from abroad.

“The country will also be phasing out the import of other types of plastic within three years,” she told a media conference in Putrajaya today.

Earlier, she chaired a meeting between her ministry and the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry; Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry; and the International Trade and Industry Ministry.

On July 24, her ministry announced that AP on importation of plastic waste for 114 factories had been revoked for three months following the serious pollution in Kuala Langat, Selangor which allegedly originated from factories that processed imported plastic illegally.

Previously, several non-governmental organisations and academicians in the country had urged the government to impose a permanent ban on the import of plastic waste from countries such as the United States and United Kingdom, estimated to be 550,000 tonnes last year, to be recycled in the country, to avoid adverse effects on humans and the environment.

– Bernama