KUALA LUMPUR: The housing and local government ministry has revoked the approved permits (AP) for the importation of the HS Code 3915 plastic waste for three months, effective yesterday, of 114 companies and factories nationwide.
Its minister, Zuraida Kamaruddin, said the move was taken following newspaper reports on the serious pollution in Kuala Langat, Selangor, purportedly caused by factories involved in processing plastic waste.
She instructed all local government authorities to conduct checks to ensure only factories with valid APs continued with their operations of plastic waste management, in accordance with international environmental standards and guidelines.
“Within these three months, factories that have their permits revoked should re-apply.
“There’ll be new criteria to be observed to ensure no abuse of power and breach of standards and regulations,” she said at the Parliament lobby today.
Among the criteria, she said, was the need for the factory operator to obtain a compliance letter from the Department of Environment (DoE), licences for the premises from the local authority, recommendation from the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) and proof that their import of plastic waste is clean and not scheduled waste.
Zuraida said the ministry, through the National Solid Waste Management Department, would form a task force to review the procedures and policy on the importation of Code 3915 plastic waste.
It would be chaired by the department’s director-general, Ismail Mokhtar, and the members would comprise the DoE, Customs, international trade and industry ministry, Malaysian Investment Development Board (Mida) and SWCorp, she added.
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