In a Facebook post, Khaled commended the Perikatan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan governments’ efforts in returning illegal containers of waste, but said it was not enough.

Noting that this was not a new issue, he said Malaysia’s role as a developing country was to become a “net zero waste nation”, rather than being the “dumpster truck of the developed world”.

He said Putrajaya must act promptly to stop the worrying trend of being the biggest global landfill before “other nations undermine us”.

Khaled suggested for the government to come up with a plan to completely ban plastic waste import in the next five years, similar to the policies set by China.

“Having a strategy in place for a total ban will reset our mindset and culture in dealing with waste products. With this, the government will set a high standard for everyone to follow,” he said.

He also called for improvements to waste management and recycling facilities, saying less than 10% of Malaysia’s plastic waste was recycled as a result of the country’s lacking investment in waste management, and its “archaic recycling methods”.

“We should treat our country with more respect. Stop accepting waste before the land is filled with more waste than productivity. The government can’t stay silent and must act immediately.”

Yesterday, FMT quoted a Greenpeace report revealing that the UK had exported 63% more plastic waste last year – 537,000 tonnes, roughly the same amount (539,000 tonnes) in 2019.

The volume of waste exported to Malaysia rose from 40,007 tonnes to 65,316 tonnes.