SE Asia becoming toxic dumping ground
SE Asia becoming toxic dumping ground
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Southeast Asian nations are fast becoming a toxic dumping ground for waste from developed countries, environmental group Greenpeace said on Thursday.
The warning came after revelations that nearly 12,000 tons of toxic industrial waste were exported to Malaysia illegally by a company in Taiwan, a case which Greenpeace called "the tip of the iceberg".
Huge volumes of toxic trash were finding their way to the Philippines, Thailand and Cambodia in the guise of recycling materials to avoid the high cost of disposal in the countries of origin, the environmental group said in a statement issued in Bangkok.
Greenpeace called for the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) urgently to implement international laws on toxic waste.
"A regional consensus among ASEAN member states is urgently needed to stem the tidal wave of toxic and hazardous waste that is often heaped upon countries in the region," it said.
Greenpeace said all ASEAN member states should ratify the Basel Ban Amendment, which needs signatures from 62 countries before it becomes part of the Basel Convention on the control of transborder hazardous waste movement. A total of 44 have ratified it so far.
This would help to "effectively place a global prohibition on the export of hazardous wastes from member states of the European Union or the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)."
Among ASEAN members, only Malaysia and Brunei have ratified the amendment.
"It is clear that the status quo has emboldened the international waste traders to use the ASEAN countries as a dump for the industrial world's toxic waste," said Francis de la Cruz of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
On Monday, Taiwan said it was prepared to take back the toxic industrial waste exported to Malaysia by Hung-Yiu Technology of Environmental Protection Co. after the environmental authorities found the import license for the shipment was fake.