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Government to boost scrutiny of waste imports
Surveyors assigned to verify imports of nonhazardous waste will be under the government's scrutiny following reports on the increase of imported waste.
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A villager shows off a 5 poundsterling banknote from the imported waste. JP/Sigit Pamungkas (JP/Sigit Pamungkas)
T
he government will evaluate surveyors assigned to verify any imports of nonhazardous waste and push for a revision of the waste-import policy in the wake of recent reports of rampant plastic waste smuggling into the archipelago.
The Environment and Forestry Ministry’s waste management director general, Rosa Vivien Ratnawati, said the decisions were made during a coordination meeting between various ministries and regional administrations in the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Ministry on Wednesday.
“The order made during the meeting is to evaluate the independent surveyors conducting the pre-shipment inspection of such imports, as they are in the front line of ensuring no unneeded waste enters our country,” Rosa said after the meeting.
Current policy allows the import of — among other materials — plastic waste, scrap metal and paper waste needed to support local industries.
The 2016 Trade Ministerial regulation on nonhazardous waste imports stipulates a requirement for an independent surveyor to check whether these imports contain unneeded waste.
Despite the requirement for verification, civil society organizations and authorities have found several instances of plastic waste being smuggled into Indonesia among the nonhazardous waste imports.
During the meeting, officials reportedly revealed that they found that several nonhazardous waste imports in Surabaya, East Java, were contaminated by unneeded waste by up to 30 percent.
