Groups Welcome Canada’s Offer to Take Back Trash
Environmental health and justice groups have welcomed
Canada’s offer to get their garbage in the Philippines re-exported to its
origin.
As reported yesterday by the Canadian media, the
government of Canada has sent “a formal offer” to the government of the
Philippines to have the illegal garbage shipments that arrived in the Port of
Manila from 2013 to 2014 returned to the Port of Vancouver.
“While we are not aware yet of the terms and
conditions, we welcome the offer made by
the Canadian government as a very positive development that will hopefully
result to the re-export of their garbage on or before the May 15 deadline,”
said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.
“Our nation’s persistence to get the garbage returned to
the ‘state of export’ has raised national as well as global awareness about the
responsibility of waste exporting countries to respect the rights of people in
developing countries and for them to live up to their obligations as parties to
the Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous
wastes,” she said. The Triple
Conference of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions is
currently in progress in Geneva, Switzerland from April 29 to May 10.
To recall, Department of Finance Secretary Carlos
Dominguez gave the Bureau of Customs until May 15 to return the garbage to
Canada following President Rodrigo Duterte’s stern warning last April 23
against the long delayed repatriation of the illegal trash shipments. On April 29, environmental and community
activists staged a protest action outside the Canadian Embassy to demand for
the immediate re-shipment of the wastes.
Prior to these local developments, the Canada-based Pacific Center for
Environmental Law and Litigation issued a legal opinion on April 10 strongly
arguing that Canada has violated the Basel Convention in respect of the illegal
traffic waste from Canada to the Philippines.
“As this is a matter of public interest, we request the
authorities to fully disclose the offer made by Canada so the people can see
and assess for themselves if the terms and conditions, if any, are in line with
our national laws and Canada’s obligations under the Basel Convention. There
ought to be a complete inventory and accounting of Canada's wastes in the
country,” Lucero emphasized.
For his part, environmentalist Rene Pineda said:
"Prudence and the law dictate that the Canadian government should cover
the cost of the repatriation of its waste, including the reimbursement of the
expenses of the Philippine government for holding it for many years."
A GAIA report, Discarded: communities on the frontlines
of the global plastic crisis, released two weeks ago documents some of the
environmental, health, social and economic impacts on communities in Southeast
Asia as they receive more waste from the developing world following China's
decision to cut down on plastic waste imports.
“Communities are resisting the plastic waste dumping in
the region. Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and India are following in
China's footsteps and have issued bans or restrictions on plastic waste
imports. We hope this signals the start of developed countries taking
responsibility for their waste throughout the region and recognizing that the
right to a good quality of life and healthful ecology does not belong to them
solely. It is a right given to all of humanity," said Beau Baconguis,
Regional Plastics Campaigner for the Global Alliance for Incinerator
Alternatives.
From 2013 to 2014, a total of 103 shipping containers of
mixed household garbage from Canada disguised as scrap plastics for recycling
reached the Philippine shores. Twenty
six of these 103 containers were illegally disposed of at a landfill in Tarlac
in 2015 until exposed and halted by furious citizens and officials.
A waste characterization study conducted by the
government in 2014 confirmed that 64% of the garbage shipments were residuals,
which can no longer be recycled and should be properly disposed of.
Environmental health and justice activists alongside
government officials, lawmakers, labor and church leaders have long insisted on
the re-export of the Canadian garbage stressing that the Philippines is not a
global dumpsite for the trash of the world.
-end-
Reference:
Canadian news re Canada's offer to take back garbage dumped in the Philippines:
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/05/02/garbage-war_a_23720880/
https://globalnews.ca/news/5232429/canada-philippines-garbage-dispute/
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