Green network backs EMB call for BOC to ship back new Canada trash cargo


Quezon City. As issue of the new Canada trash shipment gets hotter than the weather each day, a waste and pollution campaign network issued a call today supporting Environmental Management Bureau’s (EMB) statement to the customs bureau.

“Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner, Alberto Lina, should heed the call of EMB Director Jonas Leones to immediately ship back to Canada its newly discovered 48 container vans of additional garbage,” cried Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator of the zero waste advocacy network EcoWaste Coalition.

The call was issued by the group in view of Leones’ most recent statement declaring that the 2nd garbage shipment from Canada has “no importation clearance” and is therefore considered an “illegal” shipment.

Leones, in news reports outrightly said “[BOC] should immediately have [the 2nd batch of Canada garbage cargo] shipped back.”

The coalition maintained that since shipment is illegal, “the rightful and legal thing to do, according to new policy, is to ship it back to source,” referring to Leones’ clarification on new policy involving shipment that has not obtained importation clearance from the EMB.

The group also took note that the alleged importer of the new garbage shipment, Live Green Enterprise, is not a "registered importer" and "not in the record" of the EMB, as Leones said in one news interview. It was reported that the importer is based in Ontario, Canada and with local office in San Fernando City, Pampanga,

“This is a clear case of smuggling involving waste!" Lucero stressed.

She further said that "we should not allow our country to be the repository for such illegal consignments that may end up being disposed of in local disposal sites, adding to our garbage woes.”

The 48 new container vans of trash arrived in four batches from December 2013 to January 2014, several months after the first batch of 50 container vans of Canada trash. The 2nd batch have since remained unclaimed at the Manila port.

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