Malaysia has become the world's largest importer of plastic waste, with one town now almost choked by 17,000 tonnes, British media reported on February 17.
Discarded plastic, mainly from the us, Japan and the UK, has been shipped to its new destination of Malaysia.
The new plastic destination could be any town in Malaysia, but the town of renjialong is next door to the country's biggest port, port klang, from which most of the world's plastic waste flows, and the town's convenient location makes it an unfortunate destination for most plastic waste.

From January to July 2018 alone, 754,000 tons of plastic waste were imported into Malaysia, the report said.
Some plastic recycling plants, considered illegal by the local government, have also emerged. There are 33 illegal recycling plants in Kuala Langat county, where the town is located, according to the local government. Some are near botanical gardens where palm oil is produced, and some are near cities.
Local residents only discovered the illegal recycling plants months later, when symptoms had already emerged.
Chronic poisoning
Instead of spending money to transport unrecyclable plastic to waste centers, illegal recycling plants are burying it or, more often, burning it, the report said.
Local people said
Ms. Ngu, a local resident, said the stench from the burning was so strong that she coughed so hard that she coughed up blood clots. I couldn't sleep at night because the smell was so strong. I feel like a zombie. I don't have any energy.
She said she didn't find out until later that there were illegal recycling factories near her home, north and south.
Of course, the closer you are to these plants, the greater the damage.
The facts
Belle Tan discovered that there was an illegal factory a kilometre from her home, and that the burning plastic had seriously affected her 11-year-old son's health.
"He has a lot of rashes on his body, on his stomach, on his neck, on his legs, on his arms. I was angry, worried about my son's health, but what could I do? The air is full of these strange smells.
Whether these symptoms are directly linked to air pollution is not clear, but some experts say that burning plastic gas can harm people's respiratory system.
Temporary solution
The Malaysian government has shut down 33 illegal recycling plants in the town of renjialong, where most of the odors are gone, the report said.
But the 17,000 tons of plastic waste left over after the illegal factories were shut down is still there, a big problem for a small area of 30,000 people. Although the local government has disposed of most of the rubbish, there is still a huge mountain of plastic rubbish with 4000 tons, which can be seen by everyone.
What was once an empty lot is now a mountain of plastic waste. Walking around the mountain, you can see plastic waste from many countries, most of which come from Japan and Britain.
In Malaysia, however, the illegal recycling of plastic waste is not confined to one town, renjialong.
According to the report, local government officials said that when they caught the illegal factories and closed them down, they moved to another place in Malaysia to reopen them. And it's not surprising that they can easily rent land.
view
Locals say the illegal recycling industry will be hard to stop unless there is a total ban on plastic waste imports. However, given the potential economic benefits of plastic waste import and recycling, a total ban on plastic waste import seems unlikely in Malaysia.
The View point
Instead, the Malaysian government will set stricter rules on the import of plastic waste, allowing only those companies with import licences to import plastic waste.
Look around the world
The problems in the town of renjialong have revealed huge loopholes in the world's plastic recycling system, the report said. Plastic waste has its own international trade code - HS3915.
But the code does not show the quality of the plastic waste, is there a quality, or pollutants. The importer does not know, only opened to see can know.
A 2017 UN environment report acknowledged that mixed plastic waste known as "" clean plastic waste" "is common practice.
Malaysia's minister of energy, science, technology, environment and climate, ms yeo, believes that what is needed is a proper labelling system. "We need to standardize the labeling of plastic waste." She said. Otherwise, sooner or later there will be another town in Malaysia or other parts of the world, which may become the next renjialong town.