Facility seen polluting Malaysian river part of anti-pollution program promoted by US plastics industry

A plastics facility listed as a member of an environmental stewardship program created by American plastics industry groups appears to be regularly discharging plastics into the Malaysian river beside which it is located, according to an investigation by ABC News.

"We used to see them discharge it every two days," Saravanan Kumar, whose family has been fishing along the river for generations, told ABC News. "Sometimes we can see it all, the plastics and everything. Lots of plastic floating around."

Kumar says the facility regularly dumps plastics-laden wastewater into the river, which he says has devastated the ecosystem on which fishermen like him once depended for their livelihood.

"It is sad because the life in the water died and we are now afraid to eat fish that used to be delicious. We are afraid that we may hurt our kids by eating it," he told ABC News.

The facility manufactures plastic bags, among other products, sometimes from recycled content, and sits directly beside Malaysia's Langat River. ABC News observed the factory over the course of several months and found multiple drainage ditches emanating from the facility that contain plastics-laden wastewater and which lead directly to the river.

The company claims on its website to be a member of Operation Clean Sweep (OCS), founded and managed by American plastic trade groups and which calls itself "the world's largest voluntary stewardship program preventing loss of plastic resin into the environment." The Malaysian Plastic Manufacturing Association also lists the facility as a member of Operation Clean Sweep. The program claims on its website that "More than 3,300 companies participate in OCS globally," and "have committed to the OCS Pledge to work towards ending resin loss in operations."

During the third round of the ongoing historic United Nations Plastic Pollution Treaty negotiations in Kenya last year, representatives from the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) submitted a document encouraging negotiators to "integrate participation in industry stewardship programs such as Operation Clean Sweep into the zero draft" of the treaty.

This week in Ottawa, the treaty talks entered a crucial fourth round out of five proposed rounds of negotiations intended to finalize an agreement by the year's end. The U.N. has been criticized for the slow pace of the talks and for the outsized presence of industry lobbyists, with a report from the Center for International Environmental Law claiming that the plastics industry had registered 143 lobbyists to attend the last session, heavily outnumbering the 38 scientists from the Scientists Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty.

PLASTICS, which states on its website that it was "founded in 1937" and is "the only association that supports the entire plastics supply chain," has attended the U.N. negotiations multiple times. The organization declined multiple requests from ABC News to be interviewed for this report, or to provide responses to written questions that ABC News submitted via email. In a 2022 statement regarding the United Nations Plastic Pollution Treaty negotiations, PLASTICS said, in part, that they "welcome the discussion happening at the UN Environmental Assembly that seeks solutions to the issue of plastic pollution," and that their "members share the goal of keeping any of the products they manufacture from ever getting into the environment."

"Plastics improve the quality of life. And, when used and disposed of responsibly, play a major role in ensuring a more sustainable world," the statement further said.

"I've heard from a lot from members who are worried about what this means for the plastics industry," PLASTICS Vice President, Sustainability Patrick Krieger told a trade blog of the treaty. "But I think it would be helpful for everyone to take a breath and not panic. We are still very early in the process and the difference between the early proposals and the document that was ultimately accepted makes me optimistic that the parties involved are open to industry's fact-driven advocacy."

The U.S. State Department, which is representing the U.S. in the treaty discussions, was the Plastic Industry Association's top government agency lobbied in 2023, according to the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit research group Open Secrets. So far, the U.S. has refused to join a coalition of so-called "high ambition countries" seeking to limit plastic production through the treaty, and has instead positioned itself as a mediator between plastics-producing countries that want to focus the agreement on recycling and other nations seeking production cuts.

In an interview with ABC News, State Department Undersecretary Jose Fernandez, the top Biden administration official for the U.S. delegation, told ABC News they were "not necessarily" willing to commit to limiting plastics production. “That's not going to get you the kind of universal membership in an agreement that we're aiming for,” Fernandez said.

The vast majority of countries – including Canada, Mexico and the European Union – have agreed to institute plastics production caps through the treaty. Major oil- and plastics-producing countries such as Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia oppose the concept, and also have been accused of stalling the talks through procedural measures.

"The challenge will be to bring some pretty disparate groups together," Fernandez told ABC News. He says there are some groups that believe that we should "basically keep producing what you produce and recycle your way out of the problem. We actually think you need a much more realistic and a much more practical approach, which is by at every stage of the life cycle you've got to take certain action."

Fernandez did not specify what actions he meant regarding plastics production, only that he was in favor of reducing production through individualized goals set by each nation.

"Our aim is to have the obligations and then have each country decide how it's going to meet that obligation," Fernandez said.

The voluntary individualized structure Fernandez described is similar to positions outlined by plastics industry groups seeking to prevent mandatory production cuts across all nations, and who instead encourage the treaty to adopt voluntary programs, such as Operation Clean Sweep.

ABC News first became aware of the Malaysian riverside plastic facility that advertises itself as an Operation Clean Sweep member during its investigation into the international plastics waste trade, which involved securing hidden tracking devices to plastic bags which were then dropped off at recycling bins in major retailers across the U.S.

One of the 19 tracking devices deployed at a Walmart recycling bins around the country – this one in Wichita, Kansas – last pinged from the Malaysian facility next to the Langat River. In addition to pollution concerns, the facility also does not appear to have an import license, according to a 2023 list of license holders obtained by ABC News from a Malaysian parliament member.

The facility did not respond to ABC News' repeated requests for comment.

There's no way to determine for certain how the ABC News tracker ended up at the facility, but Malaysian anti-plastics advocate Pua Lay Peng says there's reason for concern.

"I believe that the trackers that [were] put in by ABC is evidence of smuggling," said Pua Lay Peng. "They don't have an import permit but they're able to get waste from overseas."

In response to ABC News reporting regarding the Malaysian facility, the Malaysian Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment wrote in a preliminary statement that they take "the illegal plastic waste trade issue raised by ABC News very seriously," and committed to "analyze and investigate" the information ABC News provided.

"Following the conclusion of the investigation, any misbehavior will face severe consequences," they wrote.