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Trade Ministry promises to tighten verification on waste imports following outcry
However, the ministry will not entirely stop waste imports. "We still need scrap metal, plastic and paper waste," an official said.
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A 3-year-old boy helps his parents sort waste piling up in Bangun village in Mojokerto, East Java, where various kinds of imported waste end up. (JP/Sigit Pamungkas)
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mid increasing calls for stricter regulations on waste imports, the Trade Ministry said it was working on a revision to its 2016 regulation on non-hazardous waste imports to prevent a higher waste influx from other countries in the future.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, a high-ranking Trade Ministry official said the revision had yet to be completed. The revision will impose strengthened verification of imported waste.
“A more detailed verification by an independent surveyor team should be done to prevent unneeded waste from coming into our country,” said Trade Ministry secretary-general Karyanto Suprih, without elaborating on the changes.
The current regulation actually includes a provision requiring all non-hazardous waste to be verified by an independent surveyor before being imported. The purpose of the verification is to check whether the imported package contains unneeded waste.
Every importing company failing to obtain the survey report will be banned from importing non-hazardous waste.
Despite the requirement, environmentalists have recorded an increase in waste imports, both legal and illegal, and have called on the government to revise the regulation as soon as possible.
A Greenpeace report issued in April shows that there has been an increase in shipments of plastic waste from developed countries to developing nations. This has been occurring since China decided to go ahead with its decision in February 2018 to ban imports of 24 types of waste material.
