EFFORTS to stamp out illegal plastic waste dumpsites and factories appear futile as new ones sprout up just as quickly, reports The Star.

The latest illegal site is in Machang Bubok, near Bukit Mertajam, Penang, the daily said.

The dumpsite is the size of six football fields with mounds of shredded plastic nearly two-storey high.

No permits have been issued by the Seberang Prai Municipal Council to use the site as a dumpsite, it said.

Work to unload more waste from lorries was ongoing during a visit to the site, indicating that fresh waste was still being brought in.

Other rubbish, besides plastics, included discarded furniture and construction debris. There was also open burning at the site.

The site is said to be a former illegal sand mine.

Machang Bubok assemblyman Lee Khai Loon was quoted saying that he had filed several reports with the Department of Environment over the last three years over illegal waste dumpsites but such activities only seemed to increase.

Malaysia has been in the spotlight over the past year and dubbed the world’s dumping ground for plastic waste after China banned imports in 2018.

The Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Ministry last July froze import permits for plastic waste.

However, accepting waste from other countries has proven lucrative for illegal operators, as the value of imported plastic waste increased following China’s ban.

Selangor has the highest number of illegal waste dumpsites and factories, with 78 shut down to date.

The ministry has pledged to shut down 100 factories by the first quarter of this year.

However, there have been reports of many others in coastal areas in Johor, Perak and Negri Sembilan. – March 20, 2019.