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Indonesia returns five containers of trash to US, examines 65 others
The Trade Ministry had granted a permit for clean paper scraps to be imported in the five containers.
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Motorcyclists pass piles of waste in the front yard of a house. Bangun village in Mojokerto, East Java, receives waste imported from various countries. (JP/Sigit Pamungkas)
T
he Environment and Forestry Ministry reported on Friday that it had returned five containers of trash to the United States after finding that the containers that were supposed to contain only clean paper scraps also contained diapers, plastic scraps, wood, fabrics and shoes in “significant amounts”.
"Tomorrow [Friday] we will return five containers to the US from Tanjung Perak Port [in Surabaya, East Java]," Trash, Waste and Hazardous Waste Management Directorate General secretary Sayid Muhadhar told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. "Although the containers were originally from Canada, the country of departure [of the containers] was the US," he added.
“The five containers are on the Zim Dalian vessel and are ready to be transported back to the US,” the environment ministry said in a statement on Friday.
The Trade Ministry had granted a permit for clean paper scraps to be imported in the five containers, which belong to PT Adiprima Suraprinta. However, the environment ministry, in coordination with the customs and excise office at Tanjung Perak Port, discovered the “impurity” in the contents and ordered that the containers be “re-exported” to the US.
“This proves that government is committed to protecting Indonesia from unwanted garbage from other countries,” the statement said.
Also on Friday, Batam Customs and Excise Office and Environment and Forestry Ministry officials oversaw the unloading of 65 containers that contained plastic trash from North America and Europe at Batu Ampar Port in Batam, Riau Islands.
They suspected that the contents included toxic waste and took samples to be examined in a lab. The containers were later sealed.
