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PETALING JAYA (July 31): Malaysia will not become the world’s solid waste dump, assured the government.’

This concern comes as developed countries are forced to send their rubbish to other Asian countries after China has halted the importation of solid waste from developed countries and refused to recycle more of the world’s garbage, reported Bernama.

To ensure this, the government has introduced new sets of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and regulations for the application of solid waste import licenses and revoked the 114 existing licenses with immediate effect, said Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin.

She said the licenses were issued by the National Solid Waste Management Department under the Ministry of Housing and Local Government.

"The licence holders need to re-apply the licence and meet the new SOP and criteria to ensure that there will be no violation of standards and regulations."

A report by the British National Audit Office revealed that Malaysia was the largest importer of plastic solid waste from the UK, taking in 17% of the total 250,000 tonnes of solid waste generated by the country in the first quarter of this year alone.

Meanwhile, China imported 40% of plastic solid waste from the UK during the same quarter last year, said Yeo.

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