How Malaysia is turning into a 'trash can' for global plastic waste

Used plastic is recycled into pellets, which are then used to manufacture other plastic products, but the process comes with pollution risks

Hundreds of sacks filled with plastic waste from the US, Britain, South Korea and Spain spill onto the streets of an industrial zone in Pulau Indah, an island town just an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur and home to Malaysia‘s biggest port.

The stench of burning plastic and fumes from nearly a dozen recycling factories wafts through the neighbourhood even as more container-loads of plastic waste are unloaded.

Pulau Indah – ironically, the name means “beautiful island” in Malay – is one of the many towns in Malaysia where illegal plastic recycling factories have popped up in recent months as the Southeast