‘Canadian solution to waste issue’
Meanwhile, Trudeau did not issue specifics with regard to the trash exported to the Philippines by a Canadian firm in 2013, but admitted that the issue requires amendments to some laws of Canada.
When asked last Thursday if he is taking action on the matter, Trudeau said: “I have obviously been made aware of the situation and I’ve also been told that there is a Canadian solution in the process of being developed.”
“But, at the same time, I know that this has exposed a problem that needs fixing within our own legislation that we’re going to lean into and make sure happens,” he added.
Trudeau did not elaborate on the “Canadian solution” being crafted to resolve the issue, which has sparked outrage among Philippine officials and environmental advocates. He also did not say if the Canadian government is ready to take back the trash.
Despite his vague statement, Trudeau acknowledged the need to ensure that a similar situation will not happen again.
“The Canadian government has more power to actually demand action from the companies responsible,” the Canadian leader said.
“I believe there are loopholes here that were allowed to be skirted that we need to make sure we close, both for Canada’s interest and for our good relationships with our neighbors,” he added.
In 2013, Valenzuela-based company Chronic Plastics Inc. imported more than 50 shipping containers with trash from Canada. More than half or 29 of the containers were dumped in a landfill in Tarlac, the home province of President Aquino.
Last year, the Bureau of Customs filed a smuggling case against Chronic before the justice department and accused the company of misdeclaring household garbage as plastic scrap.
The garbage from Canada has been rotting in the Bureau of Customs’ premises.
The storage of shipping containers filled with trash alone has cost the Philippine government around P66 million. The cost of disinfecting it has been pegged at P18,000 per container, on top of the cost of moving the trash to a treatment site, which is P8,000 per container.
All in all, disinfection would cost the Philippine government around P2 million for shipping containers still in Manila.
Lawmakers and environment advocates have called on Canada to take back the trash even as they expressed fear that the shipment might have contained toxic materials.
Sen. Francis Escudero said the government cannot afford to wait for Canada to act on the trash that it sent to the country and should work on getting rid of it at the soonest possible time.
While Trudeau’s statement about the efforts of Canada to come up with a solution was welcome, Escudero noted that there is no actual commitment from Trudeau about taking back the garbage.
“I appreciate his comment and thank him for his effort. However, the fact remains that the trash is here and we are left to fend for ourselves and spend our own money to dispose it despite the clear treaty obligation of Canada to get it back at their expense,” said Escudero, who chairs the Senate committee on environment and natural resources.
Escudero cited the Basel Convention, ratified by the Philippines and Canada, which prohibits the transboundary movement of waste. It also obliges the country of origin to take back its waste in an environmentally sound manner, without transferring the cost of managing such waste to the country of import or transit.
Escudero said the shipment of garbage to the Philippines also violates the Philippines’ Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990.
“If the Philippine government has given up on compelling Canada to take back its trash, then it should start addressing the problem now. What is the Philippine government’s course of action in the face of the environmental and health hazards posed by this Canadian garbage that is rotting on the Bureau of Customs’ premises?” he said.
“We cannot just sit around while Canada strives to find a legislative solution to the problem. The trash is here; we are here, and obviously, we are expected to deal with it,” he added.