Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) vice-president Fathima Mohd Idris said the pollution was caused by the nature of plastic waste and the unethical ways in which recyclers got rid of plastic unworthy of recycling.

“The fact remains that only a small fraction of waste plastic is recyclable and the rest has to be disposed of. And normally, illegal plastic recycling facilities resort to ‘cost-effective’ ways to dispose of these unrecyclable plastics, which is to dump them at a landfill or set them on fire.

“This has been going on in many states in Malaysia, after China started to ban the import of foreign waste, especially recyclable plastics in 2017. In view of repeated cases, the government should take firm action on the recycling factories involved,” she said in a statement.

“The government should stop pussyfooting around the pollution caused by the recycling of plastics and take action right away,” she added.

Fathima said the government ought to set up a hotline specifically for people to report on recycling factories that were operating illegally or practising open burning.

“A task force should be formed and empowered to handle such problems without fear or favour. This is to safeguard the health of the people, which is of utmost importance,” she said.

Fathima said CAP was “aghast” after reading FMT’s recent report on the apparent open burning of plastics at a hill site in Relau, Penang. She said CAP had received another report over the burning of plastics in the wee hours of the morning.

The issue of open burning of plastic waste has gripped the people of Sungai Petani, Kedah, and to a larger extent, Penang, as the acrid smell from the burning has become unbearable.

Adding to the problem, one of Kedah’s landfills caught fire about three weeks ago, burning close to 40ha of plastic waste there.