Groups hold protest to demand swift return of ‘overstaying’ Canadian trash
MANILA, Philippines — A waste and pollution watchdog led a protest action demanding the Canadian government to immediately ship back tons of illegal garbage that have languished on Philippine soil.
Protesters led by EcoWaste Coalition—wielding a banner that read “Canada: Comply with the Basel Convention. Take back your garbage now” as well as placards that read “No more promises” and “Philippines is not a dumpsite”—gathered in front of the Canadian Embassy in Makati City Monday.
Aileen Lucero, EcoWaste Coalition national coordinator, lamented that Filipinos have “patiently waited” for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resolve the long-standing waste dumping issue.
“When he first came to Manila in 2015, he said a ‘Canadian solution’ is being developed to address the issue and when he returned in 2017, he said ‘it is now theoretically possible to get (the wastes) back.’ It’s now [the] second quarter of 2019 and the Canadian wastes are still rotting here,” Lucero said.
She added: “We are fed up of failed promises. Now is the time for Canada to announce when exactly are they taking back their garbage in compliance to its obligations under the Basel Convention. The wastes have nowhere to go but Canada where the wastes have to be processed and treated in an environmentally responsible way.”
A legal opinion prepared by lawyers at the Pacific Center for Environmental Law and Litigation said that Canada’s shipping of 103 container vans of wastes between 2013 and 2014 violated the Basel Convention. The shipments—falsely declared containing homogenous plastic scrap material—actually contained heterogenous waste such as household trash, used adult diapers and electronic waste.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Waste and Their Disposal prohibits the exports of wastes that are falsely-labeled.
The Basel Convention also requires a country that has exported illegal wastes to take back the garbage within 30 days. But the Canadian government has for five years failed to take action on the long-standing issue despite requests from Philippine authorities.
READ: Canada’s trash shipment, refusal to take back wastes are illegal — legal non-profit
The groups also called on both Canada and the Philippines to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment, which aims to protect “developing countries in controlling imports of hazardous and other wastes they were unable to manage in an environmentally sound manner but continued to receive.”
Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte warned Canada that he would be sailing to the North American country to dump its trash back.
“They have been sending their trash to us. Well, not this time. We will quarrel with each other. So what if we quarrel with Canada? We’ll declare war against them, we can beat them,” he said.
This prompted the Canadian Embassy in Manila to say Ottawa is committed to collaborating with the Philippines to address the dumping of wastes in the country.
Duterte issued a fresh threat against Ottawa Sunday, saying he would dump the trash on Canada’s beaches if it refuses to get rid of the garbage illegally shipped to the Philippines.
But the Palace on Monday downplayed Duterte’s statements on declaring war against Canada and throwing garbage on the country’s beaches, saying those were just “figure of speech.” — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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