Foreign waste taints Indonesian food chain

Foreign plastic waste dumped in Indonesia is contaminating the country's food chain, according to an analysis by the International Pollutants Elimination Network, or IPEN.

Indonesia is one of several Southeast Asian nations to have experienced a large increase in garbage imports since China stopped accepting shipments of plastic waste in January 2018 on environmental grounds.

The IPEN conducted an analysis of free-range chicken eggs collected at two sites in Indonesia where imported plastic waste is dumped and used for fuel or burned to reduce volume.