Different kinds of rubbish such as plastics, diapers, used syringe and other garbage in 50 container vans were shipped into the country as “recyclable” materials.
By KATHRINA MANUEL
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Environmental groups picketed in front of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) office today April 8, calling for the removal of Canadian waste in the country.
Led by Green Peace, Eco waste coalition, Global Anti-Incinerator Alliance (GAIA) and Ban Toxics, the protesters asked the DENR to return all the Canadian waste to its homeland “because the Philippines is not a garbage land.”
Different kinds of rubbish such as plastics, diapers, used syringe and other garbage in 50 container vans were shipped into the country as “recyclable” materials.
Abigail Aguilar, Toxics Campaigner of Greenpeace Southeast Asia-Philippines, said the waste from Canada entered the country in June 2013, according to records of the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
In January 2014, the BOC decided to open the containers which remained unclaimed, and found out that these are filled with waste.
She added that the BOC identified the importer as the Chronic Plastics, a company based in Valenzuela City. The garbage were declared as plastics for recycling.
Canada and the Philippines are signatories to the Basel Convention on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, a United Nations treaty that regulates the disposal of wastes, including toxic materials, to protect humans and the environment.
The groups asked the government to return all the waste to Canada, saying that this is in violation of the treaty, which does not allow the shipping of hazardous wastes from a developed country to a developing country.
The groups said the importation of the wastes also violates the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, and the DENR Administrative Order 28, or guidelines on the importation of hazardous waste.
Angelica Carballo-Pago of Ban Toxics said the Canadian exporter failed to follow regulations in shipping wastes when it declared the materials as good for recycling. The DENR said these are not recyclable.
Different government agencies such as Department of Health, Department of Foreign Affairs, DENR, and the BOC had decided that the wastes from Canada will be permanently disposed in the country.
In disposing of the wastes, the DENR said in its latest statement, they could opt for waste treatment or a land fill disposal. The agency has not yet announced to which land fill the waste will be brought.
Green Peace said the government is losing P144,000 ($3,327) in income daily for the storage space used by the container vans, and $1.7 million in demurrage. 
