Canada to complete trash removal by end of June
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Thu, 23 May 2019 09:41:57 +0000
Canada will complete the removal of the tons of garbage it shipped to Manila six years ago and safely send it back to its port by the end of June, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change in Ottawa said yesterday.
“The removal will be complete by the end of June, as 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 costs associated with the preparation, transfer, shipment, and disposal of the waste will be assumed by the Government of Canada,” the Canadian government agency said.
The decision to ship back the waste to its shores was made after Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna announced that her government awarded a contract to Bolloré Logistics Canada to safely bring the waste back to Canada “as soon as possible.”
Accordingly, Bolloré Logistics Canada will begin preparation for the shipping procedure in the coming days.
The Canadian government further said it maintains ongoing discussions with the government of the Philippines to ensure a positive outcome to this issue in a timely fashion.
Last week, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland spoke with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. to reiterate Canada’s firm commitment to promptly repatriate the waste to Canada.
The conversation between the two officials came shortly after Canada missed the May 15 deadline set by President Duterte for Ottawa to ship back the tons of garbage it illegally exported by tranches from 2013 to 2014.
While the export of such material was allowed under Canadian regulations at the time, the import of mixed plastics and household waste is prohibited under Philippines regulations.
In 2016, a Philippine court ordered the importers to ship the containers back to Canada at their expense. The local importer, however, did not comply with the court order and has since then ceased to operate.
The garbage issue has created a diplomatic spat between Manila and Ottawa when the Philippine government recalled its top diplomats in Canada last month in protest of Canada’s failure to meet Duterte’s deadline.
Despite the unprecedented recall of the Philippine ambassador and several other consuls in Canada, the government in Ottawa emphasized that it values its deep and longstanding relationship with Manila and will continue to work “to ensure a swift resolution to this important issue of promptly repatriating waste exported to the Philippines by a Canadian company.”
“Canada values its deep and longstanding relationship with the Philippines and has been working closely with Filipino authorities to find a solution that is mutually acceptable. Canada is pleased to announce that it has awarded a contract to bring the waste back promptly and to ensure its safe and environmentally sound disposal. Canada has amended its regulations to prevent this from happening again and is looking at ways to hold the responsible parties to account,” McKenna said in a statement. (Roy Mabasa)