Indonesia ships garbage back to senders

Indonesia will be sending back 79 containers filled with hazardous and toxic waste to Britain, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, a foreign ministry official says.

The Indonesian government has set a target to complete the re-export of the 79 containers, whose waste content have been verified by government agencies including the environment and forestry ministry, by the end of January.

Ngurah Swajaya, the ministry's the director general for American and European Affairs, said in a virtual meeting with representatives from the four countries' embassies that Indonesia will not be the dumping ground for hazardous and toxic waste from other countries.

In a statement released on Thursday, he said such shipments violate international law.

The 79 containers are part of a total 107 that the Indonesian government impounded for their alleged hazardous and toxic waste. The remaining 28 containers were in the process of being verified.

Last year, Indonesia seized hundreds of shipping containers filled with garbage in various places across the archipelago and had sent them back to their origin countries in Europe, the US and Australia.