In a report published by the World Wide Fund for
Nature (WWF) Malaysians top the list of plastic polluters in Asia. The survey
covers countries such as China, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines,
and Vietnam - around 60 percent of plastic debris entering
the world’s oceans comes from these countries.
Interestingly, the GDP per capita in Malaysia is also
the highest among the five other countries. The WWF has linked this connection
by pointing out that the increase in the use of plastic is mainly due to the
rapid economic growth of the country. During recent years, Malaysia has also
returned almost 4,000 tons of unrecyclable plastic to the countries that had
shipped it to them. Other countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia have also
complained about the growing trade in unrecyclable trash. While Asia has seen
incredible growth in terms of economy, and technology, it hasn’t been able to
keep pace with the recycling of plastic waste. In the EU region, around 40
percent of plastic packaging waste is recycled. According to WWF, 93 percent of
waste is dumped in the environment in low-income countries, while only 4
percent of waste is dumped in industrialized countries.
Malaysians are the biggest per capita users of plastic
packaging, with the average Malaysian consuming 16.78kg of plastic packaging
each year.
