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.