Environmentalists Urge Next President to Send Garbage Back to Canada, Stand Up vs Waste Dumping
With only few weeks left before the May 9
elections, a gathering of environmental advocates urged whoever will be voted
as the 16th president to defend the country against foreign
waste dumping.
At the General Assembly of the EcoWaste Coalition held yesterday in Quezon
City, over 100 participants from 68 groups resolved to ask the next president
“to order the return of the illegal waste shipments to Canada in her/his first
100 days in office.”
It will be recalled that a total of 103 shipping containers of largely residual
household garbage declared as scrap plastics for recycling were illegally sent
to the Philippines from Canada between 2013-2014, causing an uproar.
To ensure that such a blatant dumping incident in violation of national and
international laws will not be repeated, the environmentalists also asked the
incoming president “to draw up robust policies and regulations” to combat
illegal waste trade.
“Seeing little hope that this shameful dumping case will be resolved under the
Aquino administration, we appeal to our nation’s next president to bring this
long drawn-out trash row to its just conclusion by sending the illegal
shipments back to Canada,” said Aileen Lucero, Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.
“Local government units (LGUs) have explicitly rejected the disposal of
Canada’s garbage in landfills operating within their jurisdictions for
environmental, health and legal reasons and we stand by them,” she added.
According to a resolution adopted at the assembly, “it is extremely important
to put the Canadian garbage dumping scandal to rest and for environmental
justice to be served.”
The resolution underscored that “the disposal of the Canadian garbage in local
landfills, cement kilns and waste-to-energy facilities will be totally wrong
and unacceptable.”
Last November 2015, visiting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the fringe of the
APEC Summit assured the Filipino people that a “Canadian solution” is being
developed to address the garbage dumping scandal.
Some 1,375 university students in January 2016 petitioned Trudeau to urgently
fulfill the so-called “Canadian solution,” stressing that such a solution
should include the immediate return of the illegal trash for environmentally
sound disposal in Canada.
“What is happening to the touted ‘Canadian solution’? Is the Canadian
government really working on it? Why are we being kept in the dark,”
Lucero observed.
“Canada, a highly developed country, should have no problem dealing with their
soiled diapers, spent electronics, plastic junks and other rubbish right in
their own backyard. There is no justification at all for their refuse to
remain in our soil to be buried or burned,” she noted.
“We hope our next President will do what is logical and fair for our country
and people: ship back the atrocious garbage to Canada,” she said.
-end-
Adopted Resolution Urging the Next President to Resolve the Canadian Garbage
Scandal
Whereas, a total of 103 shipping containers of largely residual household
garbage declared as scrap plastics for recycling were illegally sent to
the Philippines from Canada between 2013-2014 causing an uproar;
Whereas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the fringe of the APEC Summit last
November 2015 assured the Filipino people that a “Canadian solution” is being
developed to address the garbage dumping scandal; .
Whereas, some 1,375 university students petitioned Mr. Trudeau in January
2016 asking him to urgently fulfill the so-called “Canadian solution”;
Whereas, the petitioners emphasized that such a “Canadian solution” should
include the immediate return of the illegal trash for environmentally sound
disposal in Canada;
Whereas, the disposal of the Canadian garbage in local landfills, cement kilns
and waste-to-energy facilities will be totally wrong and unacceptable;
Whereas, it is extremely important to put the Canadian garbage dumping
scandal to rest, for regulatory loopholes to be firmly fixed and for
environmental justice to be served;
Be it therefore resolved that the EcoWaste Coalition asks the incoming
President to order the return of the illegal waste shipments to Canada in
her/his first 100 days in office and for her/his administration to draw up
robust policies and regulations that will ensure that such dumping incident
will never happen again.
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