Canada to take back garbage illegally dumped in Philippines before end of June

The Canadian government is, finally, taking out the trash.

Catherine McKenna, Canada’s minister of environment and climate change, said in a statement today that the removal of the illegally dumped Canadian garbage that has sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries “will be complete by the end of June.”

Handling the logistics, McKenna said, will be Bolloré Logistics Canada, a private shipping firm hired by the Canadian government.

ABS-CBN News reported that as many as 103 containers with Canadian waste such as plastic bottles, bags, and even used adult diapers arrived in Manila from 2013 to 2014. The company in question, Chronic Inc., wrongly declared the contents of the containers as recyclable materials.

A Manila court ordered in 2016 for the garbage to be shipped back to Canada. Nearly three years later, however, that had still not happened, despite Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assurance to Duterte in 2017 that his government is committed to finding a solution.

The Canadian government said in today’s statement that the shipping firm will prepare for the massive undertaking in the coming days.

“The waste must be safely treated to meet Canadian safety and health requirements. The safe and environmentally sound disposal in Canada of the waste material will take place before the end of summer 2019, ” the statement reads.

The costs associated with the preparation, transfer, shipment, and disposal of the waste will be assumed by the Canadian government.

McKenna’s statement comes after President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said yesterday that the Philippines would ship the garbage back to Canada and shoulder the expenses after the Canadian government missed the May 15 deadline to retrieve the trash back from Manila.

“If Canada will not accept the trash, we will leave the same within the territorial waters, or 12 nautical miles out to sea from the baseline, of any of their country’s shores,” Panelo was quoted as saying by ABS-CBN News.

Last week, the Philippines pulled its envoys out of Canada after it failed to meet the May 15 deadline.