The Philippines sent a shipping container full of mixed plastic junk back to Hong Kong today after it was delivered to Manila from the SAR in February under the guise of “assorted electronic accessories.”
The 25 tons of trash were just the latest such shipment to be returned to its point of origin, Philippines outlet Rappler reports, with Manila also shipping some 69 containers of trash back to Canada just last week.
Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition, called the speedy return of the illegal waste a “clear and unambiguous warning to waste traffickers to stop sending other countries’ wastes into our ports.”
The shipment from Hong Kong, which was abandoned at the port, was actually just the tip of the iceberg, the Manila Times reports.
Lucero told the outlet that the shipment was intended as a “trial” run, with another 70 such containers slated for shipment from Hong Kong before the first was intercepted.
Though the container was declared as carrying “electronic accessories,” in reality it was filled with crushed, worthless e-waste.
The shipment was one of a string of other trashy deliveries made to the Philippines in recent months. In addition to the huge shipment from Canada, others have come in from Australia and South Korea.
Intercepting mislabeled shipments of garbage has become a priority recently for Philippines authorities.
According to ABS-CBN, in a statement following the interdiction of the Hong Kong shipment, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said: “The Palace reiterates the firm position of the Republic of the Philippines that it will not allow its territory to be treated as a dumping ground for trash by any foreign country or entity.”
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