A putrid puddle filled with rubbish lies below a mountain of plastic scrap at an illegal dumpsite next to a palm oil plantation in Jenjarom, Klang, near Malaysia's largest port.
In the same Selangor town, about 70km from Kuala Lumpur, plastic waste is stacked in bags in factories, their contents spilling out onto the ground.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get exclusive reports and insights with more than 500 subscriber-only articles every month
No contract
ST app access on 1 mobile device
All subscriber-only content on ST app and straitstimes.com
Easy access any time via ST app on 1 mobile device
E-paper with 2-week archive so you won't miss out on content that matters to you
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 22, 2019, with the headline World Focus: Malaysia - where the world sends its trash. Subscribe