The Philippines is not “the world’s dumpsite,” environmentalists said on Thursday as the government prepared to return garbage shipped to the country by Canada since over five years ago.
Sixty nine out of the 100 containers of rubbish sent to the Philippines from Canada were being loaded on a private ship, hired by the government to be returned to Ottawa.
The ship carrying the trash, MV Bavaria, would be leaving Subic Bay Port between midnight and early on Friday, according to authorities.
“As the 69 shipping containers set sail home, we say with conviction that the Philippines is not the world’s dumpsite,” said Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of the Ecowaste Coalition.
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Officials said Canada had promised to pay for the return of the garbage after President Rodrigo Duterte issued an ultimatum.
Lucero was among about 100 environmental activists who trooped to Subic to bid goodbye to the rubbish.
Greenpeace said the Canadian trash problem has put a spotlight on how developed countries have exploited weak national regulations and loopholes in international law to dump waste on poor nations.
It called on the Philippine government to take tougher action against waste shipments and ratify the Basel Ban Agreement to send a strong message that the Philippines is not a dumping ground. (NAN)
