Countries: Plastic Rubbish and Australian Council

countries: Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia have each turned back shipments and warned they would not become dumping grounds for developed countries after China banned imports of foreign plastic rubbish, according to The Guardian. Peter Shmigel, the head of the Australian Council of Recycling, which represents about 70 companies, said countries in the region were increasingly focused on their own waste issues and less inclined to accept it from overseas. Jakarta announced on Tuesday it would return 210 tonnes of Australian household rubbish the latest demonstration of opposition in south-east Asia to receiving exported waste. Indonesia has not changed the level of contamination in the waste it will take, it's just enforcing the rules, he said. He said it would kickstart a domestic recycling market that would prevent recyclable material kept in Australia sitting in stockpiles or going to landfill. Indonesia sends rubbish back to Australia and says it's too contaminated to recycle Read more He said federal and state governments could address the issue by helping finance new plants and introducing procurement rules that required departments and agencies to use recycled material. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.