THE Housing and Local Government Ministry has agreed to lift a suspension of the approved permits (AP) on the importation of the HS Code 3915 plastic waste for the industry at free trade zones (FTZ) and licensed manufacturing warehouse (LMW)-status plants, with immediate effect.

Its minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the decision was made after taking into account the current situation and position of the industry at FTZ and the LMW-status plants in Malaysia.

She said the ministry noted that the matter had affected the operations of these factories as they had very limited storage for waste disposal resulting in the dumping of plastic waste at the factory compound.

“Feedback from FTZ and LMW-status plants showed that that the suspension of the AP has resulted in them being unable to manufacture and dispose plastic waste generated at the plants.

“Besides, the import is plastic waste, which is homogeneous, clean and not scheduled waste,” she said in a statement today.

Following the suspension of the 114 factories’ APs to import HS 3915 plastic on July 23 , Zuraida said the ministry had received appeals from the importing companies including an application for exclusion (from the move) for industry at FTZ and LMW-status plants located in the country. – Bernama, August 16, 2018.