
Southeast Asia vows to return mountains of rubbish from West - ganeshkrishnan
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/28/treated-like-trash-south-east-asia-vows-to-return-mountains-of-rubbish-from-west
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benj111
So what's the economics of this?

I was under the impression people actually bought this waste. That would
suggest theres someone in Malaysia say, that's in on this smuggling operation?
And if they're going to such lengths as smuggling waste, that suggests there
is money in it. So is there only money because everything's unregulated and
these processors are avoiding disposal costs. Or is more a story of these
countries not having the infrastructure to recycle such a huge volume?

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diveanon
The law in Malaysia was changed a few months ago making the importation of
trash illegal.

Some of the current ministers are going so far as to brand the owners of these
companies as traitors.

Malaysia is beginning to understand the consequences of their environmental
decisions, and there is a growing awareness of the impact of palm oil
plantations and single use plastics.

Source: live in Malaysia

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benj111
Thanks for your input.

Would you go with the 'rich westerners dumping their rubbish on you'
narrative? Do you think its a potentially valuable industry that you aren't
currently equipped to deal with effectively, or what?

As a westerner I don't really want to be exporting rubbish around the world,
but I'm aware that this could be someone's job, and potentially a valuable
industry for poorer countries, so I don't want to unilaterally decide to stop
it.

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diveanon
Malaysia's economy is fairly developed and the government has decided that the
long term environmental impacts are not worth the short term profits.

Malaysia is home to some of the only growing coral reefs in the world, has a
growing population of wild Tigers, Panthers, and Elephants.

Ultimately the choice to stop it isn't up to the west, and the decision has
already been made.

It's time for the United States and Co. to take out their own garbage.

As far as being a "poorer" country goes, I receive better and more affordable
healthcare here than I ever did in the US. I feel safer in KL than k ever did
in SF or LA, and homelessness is a rarity instead of a critical issue.

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diveanon
While Malaysia is far from perfect it makes me very happy to see it being the
cultural and environmental leader South East Asia needs.

I have high hopes for the future of Malaysia and am very happy with my
decision to make it my home.

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blu42
It's about time societies started processing their own trash. If the economics
of processing some kinds trash does not turn out great then maybe we should
stop/minimize generating such trash?

