The ministry has detected 55 containers of toxic waste and plastic from various countries since March when the Covid-19 pandemic first struck, he said.

“We’re taking this as a serious issue, Malaysia will not become the garbage dump of the world. We will be taking strict action against anyone who tries to bring in containers of toxic waste, plastic and the like.

“The environmental ministry was established in March, a few days before the movement control order was implemented. We have since detected 13 containers of toxic waste and 42 containers filled with plastic.

“I made a trip down to Tanjung Pelepas port, Johor, after receiving news that there were 110 containers which are now in the process of being sent back to its original country, Romania,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said this in response to Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (PAS-Kuala Krai) who had asked how the ministry was overcoming and preventing Malaysia from becoming the world’s garbage dump.

Ibrahim said that among the countries involved in dumping their garbage into the country were the US, UK, Vietnam and South Korea, amounting to a total of 42 containers weighing 796,533 kilograms.

Efforts to send back all waste to its respective countries have been carried out since the Pakatan Harapan government, under the supervision of former minister of energy, science, technology, environment and climate change Yeo Bee Yin.

Last January, Yeo informed that Malaysia had successfully returned 150 containers of plastic waste estimated to weigh 3,737 metric tons to its original countries.