Malaysia has repatriated 3,737 metric tonnes of plastic waste to mainly rich countries since the third quarter of 2019, the country’s environment minister said.

The country has successfully shipped out 150 containers of waste following strict enforcement at key Malaysian ports to prevent plastic waste being smuggled into the country and shut down illegal plastic recycling factories.

Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin told local reporters on Sunday: “If people want to see us as the rubbish dump of the world, you dream on.

“Our position is very firm. We just want to send back (the waste) and we just want to give a message that Malaysia is not the dumping site of the world.”

The containers were destined for their countries of origin, with the highest numbers heading to France, the UK, the US, and Canada.

Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A father and son on a makeshift boat made from styrofoam paddle through a garbage filled river as they collect plastic bottles that they can sell in junkshops in Manila. The father and son team earn some three US dollars a day retrieving recyclables from the river. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A composite image of items found on the shore of the Thames Estuary in Rainham, Kent. Tons of plastic and other waste lines areas along the Thames Estuary shoreline, an important feeding ground for wading birds and other marine wildlife. Getty Images Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children collect plastic water bottles among the garbage washed ashore at the Manila Bay. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, at current rates of pollution, there will likely be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastics and other detritus line the shore of the Thames Estuary. In December 2017 Britain joined the other 193 UN countries and signed up to a resolution to help eliminate marine litter and microplastics in the sea. It is estimated that about eight million metric tons of plastic find their way into the world's oceans every year. Once in the Ocean plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade, all the while breaking down into smaller and smaller 'microplastics,' which can be consumed by marine animals, and find their way into the human food chain. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A dump site in Manila in 2013. The Philippines financial capital banned disposable plastic shopping bags and styrofoam food containers, as part of escalating efforts across the nation's capital to curb rubbish that exacerbates deadly flooding. AFP/Getty Images Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children swims in the sea full of garbage in North Jakarta, Indonesia. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures An Indian woman holds a jar filled with Yamuna river water polluted with froth and toxic foam to be used for rituals at the river bank in New Delhi, India. The Yamuna River, like all other holy rivers in India, has been massively polluted for decades now. The river that originates in a glacier in the pristine and unpolluted Himalayas, and flows through Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh before merging with the Ganges River in Allahabad, once used to be the lifeline of the Indian capital. Currently, it is no more than a large, open sewer that is choking with industrial and domestic discharge that includes plastic, flowers and debris and has virtually no aquatic life. EPA Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Plastic waste is washed up on South Troon beach in Scotland. Recent reports by scientists have confirmed, plastics dumped in the world oceans are reaching a dangerous level with micro plastic particles now being found inside filter feeding animals and amongst sand grains on our beaches. Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Children collect plastic to be sold and recycled, in a polluted river in suburban Manila. The city's trash disposal agency traps solid waste floating down waterways that was thrown into the water by residents of slums along riverbanks upstream. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures View of the Carpayo Beach in La Punta, Callao, some 15 km of Lima. In 2013, the NGO VIDA labeled the Carpayo Beach as the most polluted in the country - 40 tons of trash on each 500m2. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Trash from Kamilo Beach in Hawaii. Gabriella Levine/Flickr Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A scavenger collects plastic cups for recycling in a river covered with rubbish near Pluit dam in Jakarta. Reuters Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Rubbish fills Omoa beach in Honduras. Floating masses of garbage offshore from some of the Caribbean's pristine beaches are testimony to a vast and growing problem of plastic pollution heedlessly dumped in our oceans, locals, activists and experts say. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures A man climbs down to a garbage filled river in Manila. Plastic rubbish will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050 unless the world takes drastic action to recycle the material, a report warned in 2016. AFP/Getty Plastic waste across the world: in pictures Garbage on East Beach, Henderson Island (Pitcairn Islands), in the south Pacific Ocean. The uninhabited island has been found to have the world's highest density of waste plastic, with more than 3,500 additional pieces of litter washing ashore daily at just one of its beaches. EPA

France was sent back 43 containers of waste, while 42 were returned to the UK, 17 to the US, 11 to Canada, 10 to Spain, and the rest were sent to Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Lithuania.

Ms Yeo added Malaysia did not pay to send the containers back, as all costs were borne by importers and shipping lines, reported local news site Free Malaysia Today.

“It is not about money, but dignity. We are not supposed to pay them to send it back. We do not want to pay a single cent,” she said.

According to her ministry, there are still 110 containers of waste waiting to be shipped back to their countries of origin, including 60 containers destined for the US.

Plastic waste from abroad became a problem for Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries after China banned all plastic imports in 2018.

The move by China, called the “National Sword” policy, was aimed at easing the burden on overwhelmed Chinese processing facilities, which initially handled nearly half of the world’s recyclable waste.

European nations that previously exported most of their recyclable waste to China diverted it to Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

This led to the opening of illegal processing factories, which the government began cracking down on in early 2018.

Ms Yeo vowed to continue shutting them down and said: “We will continue to close [the illegal factories] again and again. We will see who is more persistent.”

The Malaysian government will launch an action plan on illegal plastic importation next month to help different agencies coordinate enforcement and speed up the process of returning waste, Ms Yeo added.

Simon Ellin, CEO of the Recycling Association, told the Independent: "It's very frustrating that these containters are coming back because it is another case of the industry receiving bad publicity for the indiscretions of a few and we simply have to find ways of stamping out the illegal exports of plastics with blights the market for compliant operators.

"Malaysia, like many other Asian markets, is becoming more and more difficult to export to as their authorities are now issuing significantly fewer licenses for facilities recycling plastics and their customs are paying much more attention the the materials they are receiving - and we wholly welcome this.