On July 1, imports of all plastic waste are prohibited from entering Malaysia, a country that currently receives more plastic waste from rich developed countries than any other non-OECD country. This new law will finally bring Malaysia into alignment with the Basel Convention, including the 2019 Plastic Waste Amendments and its trade ban on certain plastic wastes between Parties of the Convention, such as Malaysia, and non-Parties, such as the U.S. The new law will also be a wake-up call for a multitude of cities and states that routinely allow their plastic waste to flow to Malaysia.
“We are ecstatic that this new law aims to stop much of the harmful plastic waste moving in containers each day from Los Angeles to Port Klang under the guise of recycling,” said Jim Puckett, founder and chief of strategic direction of the Basel Action Network (BAN). “The ‘recycling’ is doing more harm than good as only a fraction of the exports ever get recycled. The plastics that are not feasible to be recycled are often hazardous, or contain microplastics, which are commonly dumped, burned, or released into waterways.”
Under the amended Customs Act (Schedule 4, Part 1, Item 6) in Malaysia, plastic waste imports are prohibited unless they are approved by SIRIM Berhad, an agency under the purview of the Malaysian Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry. SIRIM is in charge of inspections and granting import permits under a new set of rules found in the Guidelines for Importation and Inspection of Waste Plastic.
Under the guidelines, plastic wastes will only be allowed from Basel Parties and thus not from the U.S. (a non-Party), unless a special bilateral treaty is formed as allowed for under the Basel Convention. Free-trade zones will not be exempted. All exports will be subject to pre-inspection in the exporting countries. Any false HS code declarations will be considered non-compliance and subject to prosecution.
From other countries that are Basel Parties, imported plastic waste must not be mixed, with the sole exception of PP, PE, and PET mixtures. Each individual polymer must have a 99.5 percent purity level. Experts consider this level as impossible to meet for any post-consumer plastic waste, including electronic waste plastic, agricultural waste, and wastes arising from municipal MRFs (materials recovery facilities). Furthermore, the plastic waste cannot exceed 2 percent of non-plastic contaminants such as wood, paper or metal, with a zero tolerance for any food, oil or e-waste mixed into the loads.
Data from California reveals that contamination levels of plastic waste by other plastics is routinely found to be at 8 to 9 percent, while contamination levels by metal or wood are often found at levels 6 to 17 percent. High contamination rates by food and oil contaminants are also common. In short, meeting these standards will be next to impossible for post-consumer plastic.
Published July 2025
