Pua Lay Peng received death threats, had her home splashed with red paint, her work and life disrupted, and was accused of having nothing better to do by the authorities - all in the name of protecting her home in Jenjarom from unlicensed plastic recyclers. These illegal operators were turning the area into a toxic cauldron of pollution, whose modus operandi was to set up ad-hoc factories in quiet areas, contaminate the groundwater as they process plastic waste, and illegally dump or burn whatever they couldn’t recycle in the dead of night. In conjunction with Plastic Free July, we speak to this accidental activist about how she and other like-minded folks exposed this practice, and how they continue to fight the problem which continues to spread across Malaysia like a deadly cancer.

Ms Pua can be contacted at sgjarom2018@gmail.com.

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