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ASEAN Urged to Adopt Full Ban on Plastic Waste Imports

Zsombor Peter

   BANGKOK - Environmental activists from across Southeast Asia are urging
   their governments to present a united front ahead of a major summit in
   Bangkok against a surge of plastic and electronic waste imports that
   are turning the regions into the world's "dumpsite."

   Thailand, this year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian
   Nations (ASEAN), will host the leaders of the 10-country bloc for a
   four-day summit starting Thursday under the banner "Advancing
   Partnership for Sustainability."

   But environmental rights groups see a glaring omission in their agenda.

   "We are quite surprised and a little bit disappointed because ... the
   issue of waste trade that the region [is] facing has not been [put] on
   the table," Greenpeace Thailand country director Tara Buakamsri said at
   a press conference Tuesday in Bangkok.

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