NRES REVIEWING PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH DOE BRANCH IN PORT KLANG

PUTRAJAYA, March 10 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability (NRES) is reviewing the proposal to establish a branch of the Department of Environment (DOE) in Port Klang to strengthen control and expedite enforcement actions against cases involving scheduled waste and electronic waste (e-waste) at the country's main entry point.

Its minister, Datuk Seri Arthur Joseph Kurup, said the move was proposed following an increase in cases of containers suspected to contain e-waste at the port.

He said that the permanent placement of DOE officers at the port is expected to expedite the inspection process and the detention of suspicious containers, in addition to ensuring that case management is carried out more efficiently and systematically.

"This step is also believed to help reduce the issue of container congestion and ensure the port operations continue to run smoothly," he said in a statement today.

According to him, the DOE recently conducted 'Ops Bongkar' from March 3 to 9 to inspect the remaining 213 containers detained by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM) for suspected e-waste at Port Klang.

The operation involved enforcement officers from the DOE headquarters, Selangor DOE, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur DOE and Negeri Sembilan DOE, in collaboration with the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS), JKDM, the Port Klang Authority (LPK) and the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM), he said.

He said the inspection found 148 out of 213 containers contained scheduled waste, including 103 containers containing e-waste.

According to him, 24 containers contained lead-acid battery waste, three containers contained lithium battery waste, and 18 containers contained a mixture of scheduled and non-scheduled waste.

"Another 65 containers were found to contain plastic waste and metal scrap classified as non-scheduled waste," he said.

Arthur said further investigation records showed that about 90 per cent of the containers containing scheduled waste and e-waste originated from the United States, while the remainder came from several other countries, including Brazil, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, China, Thailand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

He also said that Malaysia maintains its position of not allowing any importation of scheduled waste, particularly e-waste, in line with the commitment under the Basel Convention, requiring the approval of the DOE director-general for every cross-border activity.

"Since the DOE has never issued any import permits for the materials, any e-waste detected at the country's ports constitutes illegal entry and is against the law," he added.

-- BERNAMA