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A girl chases a bird atop piles of dirty plastic waste washed up on Labuan Beach in western Java, Indonesia. Experts say much of the trash has been imported via "waste trafficking" from developed countries. (Photo by Dimas Ardian)
The Big Story

Southeast Asia's plastic tidal wave: Imported trash swamps region

From Indonesia to Myanmar, China's 2018 import ban fed an already critical domestic waste problem

DOMINIC FAULDER and ISMI DAMAYANTI, Nikkei staff writers | Southeast Asia

This article is to mark Earth Day, an annual event held on April 22 to promote protection of the environment.

BANGKOK/PANDEGLANG, Indonesia -- When Otin was a child, the beach in front of her home in Labuan, western Java, was so clean it would sparkle in the sunshine. "We used to be able to see the white sand," she reminisced.

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