Sihanoukville (FN), July 17 - At least 83 containers of plastic waste were cracked down at the Sihanoukville port, some 230 km west of the capital Phnom Penh.

The inspection, led by port authorities, provincial governor, and the minster of environment, on 16-17 July led to the discovery of more than 83 containers containing illegal plastic waste imported from the US and Canada.

Ministry of Environment’s spokesman Neth Pheaktra said Wednesday that the ministry and relevant authority is proceeding to send back the 1,600 tons of illegal waste back to its originating sources.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned that the kingdom does not welcome trash imported from the rich countries under the excuse “for the purpose of incineration for electricity”.

The strongman underlined that the kingdom is not a dumping site for industrial waste of the rich.

This is the second time of large amount of waste found in Sihanoukville province of Cambodia, following the first case found in 1998 with some 3,000 tons of toxic waste.

The similar case also happened to Indonesia on 7 July 2019.

According to the local media, Indonesian authorities at ports discovered more than 80 containers of illegal waste from the United States, Australia and Europe.

“Last month, Malaysia announced it was sending more than 3,000 tons of scrap plastics plastics back to countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and China. The Philippines took similar action in June, returning dozens of containers of waste deemed illegal back to Canada.”
=FRESH NEWS