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Scrap plastic or toxic waste? Batam suspicious of containers from North America, Europe
Officials of the Batam Customs and Excise Office and the Environment and Forestry Ministry are looking into 65 containers of plastic trash, which are suspected to also contain hazardous materials, from North America and Europe at Batu Ampar Port in Batam, Riau Islands
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span>Officials of the Batam Customs and Excise Office and the Environment and Forestry Ministry are looking into 65 containers of plastic trash, which are suspected to also contain hazardous materials, from North America and Europe at Batu Ampar Port in Batam, Riau Islands.
Officials said the containers were also filled with unsorted garbage, including children’s toys and diapers exuding a stench, in contradiction to claims by the importing companies that the containers contained plastic pellets.
“We are still waiting for lab reports from the customs office. If [the containers] really contain hazardous waste, we will recommend that the Trade Ministry revoke the licenses of the importing companies,” Batam Mayor Muhammad Rudi said on Monday.
The Indonesian public has become increasingly concerned about the surge of imported waste through ports in Riau Islands and East Java. The Environment and Forestry Ministry has ordered five containers to be returned from Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java, to United States upon discovering unsorted waste inside them, including hazardous waste. While allowing imports of recyclable plastics, the country has banned imports of hazardous waste.
An economics lecturer from Batam International University (UIB), Suyono Saputra, questioned companies’ claims that the waste constituted raw materials and said he suspected that exporting countries were only looking to dump their waste in Indonesia.
“Many foreign companies are turning [to Indonesia]. They must also send their waste here,” he said.
The Batam Customs and Excise Office said a total of 65 containers of plastic trash at Batu Ampar had been imported by PT Wiraraja Plastic, PT Tanindo, PT Royal Citra Bersama and PT Cakra Abadi.
A preliminary inspection of the four containers of Wiraraja Plastic showed that they included hazardous materials.
Batam Environment Agency head Herman Rozie was skeptical about claims that the imported waste was raw material for industrial use.
“It looks like trash, it smells like trash. Will it really be used as raw material [in the local plastics industry]?” he asked.
Earlier, the Industry Ministry defended the import of trash from other countries to get raw materials for the local plastics industry.
The ministry’s director for the downstream chemical industry, Taufiek Bawazier, said local industries had to import 350,000 tons of scrap plastic last year to meet national demand of 7.3 million tons.
Local plastic collectors only contributed 1.1 million tons, he said, with the remaining plastic coming from locally produced sources at 2.3 million tons and virgin plastic imports at 3.5 million.
“If we establish a good waste management system, which is the job of the Environment and Forestry Ministry and local administrations as stipulated in the 2008 law on waste management, industry players won’t need to import,” Taufiek said.
He added that plastic recyclers could not just accept any form of plastic waste, as scrap plastic had to meet certain recycling standards. As such, the materials must be clean and must not come from landfills, as the end products might otherwise be contaminated, Taufiek said.
