GEORGE TOWN: The Department of Environment (DoE) has confirmed an FMT report that a hill in the south of Penang island hosts an illegal plastic recycling factory and has been the site of open burning of waste materials.
DoE officers went to the six-acre site yesterday morning and found a variety of waste materials, including plastic waste, scattered all over the area.
The hill lies adjacent to the township of Relau, whose residents have been complaining of the smell of burning plastic since a few days before last Chinese New Year.
Similar complaints have also come from some people living outside Relau within the Sungai Ara area, in which the town is situated.
The officers were acting on a complaint by Penang executive councillor Phee Boon Poh and a report that FMT published yesterday.
The DoE report said the officers found signs that the area had been used for open burning although nothing was burning during their visit.
It said DoE would issue a warning to the landowner and would conduct frequent checks from now on.
During their visit to the recycling factory, the officers found workers sorting used plastic and crushing them.
An official of the company operating the factory told the officers the crushed plastic bits would be sent to a facility in Jawi on the mainland.
The DoE report said the owner of the premises failed to show that he had the approval of the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) to operate the factory and added that it would refer him to council authorities.
However, it also said the collection of plastics did not run afoul of the Environmental Quality Act.
“There is no imported plastic waste there,” it added.
An MBPP official told FMT the council had not given any licence for the operation of dumping sites on the hill. - FMT
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