Canada hires company to take back trash from Philippines by end of June

MANILA, Philippines — Canada has beaten the Philippines in looking for a shipping firm that would take back the remaining 69 containers of garbage from the Southeast Asian country.

On Wednesday, Malacañang announced that President Rodrigo Duterte has directed the appropriate government agency to look for a private shipping company to return the trash to the North American country.

Shortly after this announcement, the Canadian government announced that it has hired a company to repatriate the waste illegally shipped to the Philippines between 2013 and 2014.

"The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, announced that the Government of Canada awarded a contract to Bolloré Logistics Canada to safely bring the waste back to Canada as soon as possible," Canada said in a statement.

McKenna pointed out that Canada has amended its regulations to prevent this incident from happening again.

According to the Canada, the private shipping firm will start the preparation in the coming days and will be completed by the end of June.

Canada's environment department stressed that the garbage must be safely treated to meet the country's safety and health requirements.

"The safe and environmentally sound disposal in Canada of the waste material will take place before the end of summer 2019," the Canadian government said.

The Canadian government also committed to shouldering the cost of the preparation, transfer, shipment and disposal of the waste.

"The Government of Canada maintains ongoing discussions with the Government of the Philippines to ensure a positive outcome to this issue in a timely fashion," the Canada said.

According to the news release, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. talked to Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland last week to discuss the repatriation of the waste to Canada.

"As I mentioned to their Foreign Secretary last week, we are committed to resolving this issue as quickly as possible. Today is an essential step forward in accomplishing that," Freeland said.

Last week, Locsin ordered the recall of Philippine ambassador and consuls to Canada after the North American country missed its deadline of taking back the waste.

Locsin said the Philippines will maintain a diminished diplomatic presence in Canada until the garbage row is resolved.