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Returning waste to countries of origin not enough: Activists

Activists have called on the government to take a stronger stance against waste-exporting countries.

Ardila Syakriah, Kharishar Kahfi and Fadli (The Jakarta Post)
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Jakarta and Batam
Sun, June 16, 2019

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Returning waste to countries of origin not enough: Activists A villager shows off a British banknote found among imported waste in Bangun village in Mojokerto, East Java. (JP/Sigit Pamungkas)

Activists have called on the government to take a stronger stance against waste-exporting countries, suggesting that "merely" returning the trash, as the Environment and Forestry Ministry did for the first time on Friday, was not enough to solve the problem.

The ministry reported on Friday that it had returned five containers of imported trash to the United States from Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java, after finding that the containers that were supposed to contain only clean paper scraps also contained diapers, plastic waste, wood, fabrics and shoes in “significant amounts”.

Read also: 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, which belong to PT Adiprima Suraprinta. However, the Environment and Forestry Ministry, in coordination with customs and excise officials at Tanjung Perak Port, discovered “impurity” in the content and ordered that the containers be “re-exported” to the US.

The ministry said the move was proof of the government's commitment to protect Indonesia from unwanted garbage from other countries. Activists, however, beg to differ.

Ecological Observation and Wetlands Conservation (Ecoton) director Prigi Arisandi questioned the ministry's recent move, noting that the smuggling of waste had gone on for the past 10 years amid to "weak and careless supervision" by authorities.

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