Update: Foodpanda has updated Mashable SEA with a statement.

According to the company, an investigation into the illegal dumping of Foodpanda delivery bags will be launched immediately.

"We work with suppliers to properly dispose of unusable delivery bags," a representative from the company said. "As sustainability is an important initiative to Foodpanda, with the launch of opt-out where customers can choose not to receive single use plastic cutlery with their order, we ensure that this is a matter of the utmost importance for us to understand."

The representative also said the company has contacted Andy Hickson to effectively remove the bags immediately.

In the final months of 2019, Foodpanda has found itself in another controversy once again.

Previously, Foodpanda's Singapore Instagram account was hacked. And just a month ago, Malaysians began a hashtag #boycottfoodpanda after a nationwide company policy change to its payment scheme was announced.

Now it's not solely online though. This time, the controversy begins in a Malaysian forest.

Andy Hickson was just minding his own business, going for a trek in a jungle just outside of Gombak. And look what he came across.

Hickson looks at the camera before panning to record the piles of trash littered across the jungle floor.

"Foodpanda stuff. That's the main culprit," he says. "There's a whole load of Foodpanda stuff down there dumped in the jungle."

And true enough, lying among the piles of plastic containers and trash bags around Hickson are several of Foodpanda's iconic pink driver-delivery bags.

People online were quick to share the Facebook post and many shared that they were disappointed, but not surprised

IMAGE: Screenshot

"Where there's humans, there's trash. Humans are trash if like this," one Facebook user commented.

Hickson countered that point by saying he agreed, but "this trash is dumped by people not living here."

One Facebook user shared the post with their own personal anecdote.

"Personal experience. Malaysians, no matter if they are at the city or at rural areas, really don't like being clean and like making rubbish. Because of that you act stupid when you see people from other country are cleaner than y'all."

Some Facebook users, however, theorized and commented that perhaps it might not be Foodpanda themselves throwing the trash into the jungle. Instead, this might be a case of illegal dumping.

But the Facebook comment drives a good point.

Many Southeast Asian countries are known to have become dumping grounds for other nations' trash. And Malaysia is no different.

In April, the Malaysian government announced that a full-force clampdown on illegal plastic waste being imported into the country. The plastic waste was being smuggled into the country as goods in containers, and were later dumped and burnt near residential areas.

Local Malaysians have become ill regularly due to the presence and stench of burnt plastic surrounding their homes. Rivers nearby those residential areas were also found to contain toxic chemicals.

The battle against trash continues on in the country and across the world. For now, Malaysians can do their part by recycling and properly disposing their trash in their respective areas.

Like Hickson says in his video: "Get rid of your own trash, man."

Cover image sourced from Andy Hickson's Facebook post.