Philippines wants Canada to take back tons of garbage sent to their country illegally

World Today

Philippine customs officials are still looking for a way to return 50 shipping containers filled with garbage that arrived in their country from Canada. The garbage was discovered in an illegal shipment in February. CCTV America’s Barnaby Lo reported this story from Manila.

The illegal garbage was labeled “recyclable plastic”, which would have been legal, but the containers actually had a mix of plastics, papers, household waste and used adult diapers.

So far there’s no indication that the Canadian government has taken any steps to ship the garbage back to where it came from.

In response to CCTV’s request for an interview, the Canadian Embassy in Manila sent a statement that said: “The case is a private commercial matter involving a Canadian company and its Philippines partner,” and that “currently there are no domestic laws which the Government of Canada could apply to compel the shipper to return its containers to Canada.”

The Philippine government has been left with no choice but to store and treat the garbage at its own cost. The country’s Bureau of Customs has filed charges against the importer, but environmental groups said Canada should do its part.

The Philippines has its own garbage problem to deal with. More than 35,000 tons of solid waste is generated each day in the country with more projected as the population continues to grow.


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