Recycling in Malaysia

[7] The report warned that there were regulation violations in the disposal of imported plastic waste to the country (plastic is burned on roadsides in the open-air, dumped in unregulated or poorly regulated dump sites close to bodies of water, discarded in abandoned buildings or just left to degrade and rot in the open) thus contributing to environmental pollution and harmful health impact for Malaysians.

These wastes come primarily from developed countries, with the US, Japan, United Kingdom, being the top 3, and Australia, New Zealand, Finland, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland as the rest.

[9] In October 2018, the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin announced that the country would imposed a limit and eventual ban on the import of all non-recyclable solid waste, particularly plastic and that up to 30 illegal factories have been closed.

An April 2019 news report quoted the same minister where she stated that the number of closed plastic waste factories have increased to 148 factories[11] and highlighted the serious problem of 111 containers filled with contaminated plastic unfit for recycling were left unclaimed at Westports in Port Klang after being smuggled in by global syndicates using false declarations and exploiting a broken international trade system.

[13][14] The Malaysian branch of Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation which originated from Taiwan has made recycling one of its main charitable activities since its establishment in 1996.

[17][18] Private run stores that follow the Zero Waste principles where customers can refill household cleaners and cosmetics or buy reusable and recycle friendly products have also emerged in Klang Valley.