Putrajaya seeks Asean action on e-waste smuggling
PUTRAJAYA: The issue of rising e-waste smuggling and dumping in the region will be raised by Malaysia with Asean.
Besides Malaysia, smuggling and dumping of such e-waste had been detected in Indonesia and the Philippines, says Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (pic).
'Malaysia should not be a rubbish bin for e-waste,' said the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister.
'When China tightened its borders and imposed a ban on e-waste imports, this region became a dumping ground.
'We want to bring this up with Asean,' he said in an interview yesterday.
Media reports have highlighted that Malaysia remains a dumping ground for e-waste from developed nations like the United States, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.
In March, Nik Nazmi told Parliament that 15,764.9 metric tonnes of e-waste were seized from 47 premises nationwide during Ops Hazard in February.
On a related note, he said his ministry was looking at delegating powers of enforcement and investigations to the police.
'We are working on delegating powers under the Environmental Quality Act to the police so they can take action against illegal e-waste dumping,' he said.
He said this included the use of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 to crack down on such activities.
He added that the ministry will also work closely with the Customs Department to address the issue.
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