COMMENT | Rows of abandoned and derelict industrial shop lots loomed up ahead, with dark gaping holes in place of windows and doors. Turning a corner, we saw them – bales and bales of plastic trash neatly stacked up, with creeper vines beginning to hide them from view.

Japanese 'Palty' hair dye tubes burst out of an opened jumbo trash bag. An 'OMA' bottle from Denmark littered the ground. Some jumbo bags held shredded plastic scraps while others contained nurdles, the tiny pre-production plastic pellets.

We were in Pulau Indah in the Klang district, for which the Malay name translates into “Beautiful Island”. The irony was not lost on us.

A man approached, speaking animatedly into a mobile phone. We jumped into the car and fled. We saw a lone operator still at work, eking out a living amidst the decaying scrap.

We then went to a vacant lot in nearby Telok Panglima Garang where illegal factory operators used to stockpile plastic waste. The wastes have been cleared, but the ground was layered with scraps of microplastics, some clearly charred and melted. There was a fire here.

Next to this land, more unknown materials – some ...