PARLIAMENT | Putrajaya is working on amendments to the Environment Quality Act 1974 to increase penalties for illegal e-waste imports, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
This was revealed by Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad in a written reply to Yeo Bee Yin (Pakatan Harapan - Puchong), who incidentally was a former minister in charge of the environment.
"The penalties will be increased to a level that has higher deterrence (effect) to show Malaysia's commitment towards the problem caused by illegal e-waste imports," he said.
He said that under Section 34B of the law, the penalties for illegal e-waste imports were a jail term of not more than five years and a fine of not more than RM500,000.
The same law was amended last year by Parliament, which focused on increasing penalties for dumping hazardous materials and water pollution.
Meanwhile, Nik Nazmi said Putrajaya was committed to returning illegal e-waste imports to their port of origin due to the country's commitment to the Basel Convention on The Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
He explained that under the Basel Convention, cross-border e-waste shipments required prior informed consent from the receiving country.
"We have acted on importers who fail to adhere to the rules by returning e-waste imports to their country of origin under Article 9 of the Basel Convention," he said.
Last October, Malaysiakini reported that some 1,000 containers with e-waste enter the country every month and end up in the hands of illegal recyclers hunting for precious metals, including gold, copper, and aluminium.
Industry players told Malaysiakini that these illegal recycling operations hurt the environment and do not contribute to the country's coffers. - Mkini
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