It has been confirmed that Ireland will not be among the countries in receipt of plastic being returned by Malaysia.
The country has announced that several thousand tonnes of imported plastic waste are to be sent back to the countries it came from.
There are concerns it has become a 'dumping ground' for wealthier nations, and that much of the refuse was imported illegally.
Between January and July 2018 alone, Malaysia imported 754,000 metric tonnes of plastic - the weight of approximately 100,000 large elephants.
The waste came from countries like the United States, Japan, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
However Seamus Clancy, chief executive officer of Repak, said Ireland is not part of any such programme.
In 2019, no Irish recycling material was sent to Malaysia.
Mr Clancy said: "Repak operates to a very strict regulatory and compliance standard when it comes to the circulation of packaging recycling material.
"It is only sent to certified plants that are subject to strict processing controls. Repak treats its obligations very seriously in this regard".
In 2016, Repak said it conducted site inspections of recycling plants in Malaysia and since then, only "minor tonnages" of recycling material have been sent to Malaysia.
An estimated 96,000 tonnes of Irish generated waste plastics were recycled in 2018.
Some 92% was recycled in Europe - predominantly in the UK, Germany, Poland and Turkey - 3% in Ireland and the remaining balance was outside Europe.
A total of 80 tonnes of material went to pre-approved sites in Malaysia is 2018.
"Ireland has one of the strongest regulatory compliance regimes in Europe with quality controls measures in place before any waste packaging material leaves Ireland - with all material pre-sorted before it leaves Ireland", Mr Clancy added.
A Greenpeace report from last year labelled Malaysia "the new dumping site for plastic 'recycling' from more than 19 countries".
Heng Kiah Chun from Greenpeace Malaysia said: "The Malaysian plastic recycling industry is overwhelmed by the influx and cannot accommodate the waste in a way that is sustainable and acceptable by the government's own standards.
"Our investigation found evidence of harmful plastic waste processing being carried out in Klang, on the western outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur, and Jenjarom to the south".
The report added that since China banned plastic waste imports in January 2018, countries in Southeast Asia - particularly Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia - have accepted an increased amount of plastic waste.
