Indonesian laws allow recyclable materials to be imported. But it's supposed to be completely recyclable - none of it should end up as waste.
In Indonesia, 60 containers of foreign hazardous and toxic waste have been sitting in a port in Riau Island for the past five months. Last week, crates of shredded municipal garbage from Australia turned up in the Philippines labelled as fuel in at attempt to bypass customs regulations. Philippine customs officials confirmed they were working on sending it back.
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kleinbl00: This deluge of trash might not be such a big problem were China not in the middle of a monumental, if flawed, effort to fix its recycling system. Recycling has long been a gritty, unregulated affair in the country, one driven less by green virtue than by the business opportunity in extracting value out of other people’s leavings.The government now wants a recycling industry that doesn’t spoil the environment or sicken workers. The transition hasn’t been smooth.
It's not so much about "the wealthy" dumping whatever they like into their environment. It's about unregulated, bootleg industry that is only cheap because it's illegal and harmful.