Indonesia Rejects Container Shipments

According to published reports, the Indonesian government has rejected close to 100 containers that environment officials say contain mixed waste that failed to meet the quality criteria.

One report notes that the nature of the waste came to light in January when investigators screened 89 containers that had made their way from Britain to the Tanjung Priok port in Indonesia.

Indonesia, which accepts scrap metal for recycling, refused the contents of the containers on the ground that they contained a mix of waste.

According to the BBC Balthasar Kambuaya, Indonesia’s Environment Minister, said that the material that had reached Indonesian shores was garbage with a mix of dry, wet and some smelly and dripping waste.

The containers had asphalt, plastic and liquid mixed with scrap metal.

As many as 51 containers were held back or returned to the U.K. in 2011, while in 2010, 31 requests for return of illegal contaminated waste were made to the Environment Agency, according to the BBC.