Indonesia is cracking down on unwelcome imports of waste and joins the growing list of countries sending back such cargoes. The first seven out of a total of 49 containers of mixed waste are making the return journey back to France and Hong Kong. The country’s customs authorities have given the importer 90 days to return the cargo or face criminal sanctions, according to Indonesian media reports. The tonnages that were falsely declares as plastics scrap apparently also contain toxic waste and heavy metals.

Indonesia is following the actions of Malaysia and the Philippines as well as Cambodia and Sri Lanka – see Plasteurope.com of 03.06.2019 and 30.07.2019. The Asian countries have shipped or are in the process of returning the unwanted imports to their place of origin. In terms of tonnage, Indonesia was the fourth most important destination for European waste exports in 2018 – see Plasteurope.com of 31.05.2019.