Canada–Philippines waste dispute

In 2013 and 2014, 103 shipping containers were transported from Vancouver to Manila[1] by Chronic Plastics Inc.[2] Though declared to contain recyclable plastic, the Bureau of Customs found instead "household trash, plastic bottles and bags, newspapers, and used adult diapers".[3]

Chronic Plastics has been accused of violating the Basel Convention (on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal); the Philippines and Canada are both signatories. While the treaty stipulates that "the exporting country must take back the waste materials if the receiving country refuses to accept them", Canada refused on the grounds that the garbage was municipal solid waste, not hazardous waste.[4] The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Hazardous Waste Management Section Chief, Geri Geronimo Sañez, confirmed this saying, "It's a blue bin waste. [sic] That's paper, dry plastic generated from the kitchen. I have not seen any syringe, any diaper. It's not hazardous, but it's waste still". By November 2017, at least 26 of the containers' trash had been buried at a landfill in Capas, Tarlac.[5]

In 2016, a Philippine court ruled that the garbage should return to Canada.[3] That same year, Canadian environmental laws were changed to require companies such as Chronic Plastics to retrieve their trash.[6] At the 2017 summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explained that Canadian laws and regulations had prohibited his nation from accepting the garbage, but that workarounds were in place, though the two nations had not yet settled on financial responsibilities.[5] As of 13 November 2018, storing the Canadian waste had cost approximately 36 million Philippine pesos (714,286 United States dollars).[4]

In an analysis of the situation in January 2019, Antonio La Viña said that there was nothing for the Philippines to do but wait on Canadian retrieval of the trash.[4] About three months later, in the wake of the 2019 Luzon earthquake, Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at Canada over the garbage remaining in Manila. After accusing Canada of denigrating Filipinos, Duterte proclaimed that if the trash was not removed by Canada within a week (by 30 April 2019), the Philippines would declare war on Canada.[2] In response to Duterte's threat, the Canadian ambassador to the Philippines said, "I won't comment on the specific words of the president or his tone, but I will say this: Our prime minister committed and has recommitted to resolving this issue, including taking the waste back to Canada."[3]

A week after his deadline was missed, Duterte set a new one of 15 May, with his secretary of foreign affairs—Teodoro Locsin Jr.—saying,[6] "The President expects the garbage to be seaborne by May 15. That expectation will be met or else…"[7] That same day, Global Affairs Canada announced that they had made an offer to retrieve the garbage and were working closely with the government of the Philippines to work out the details.[8] Bolloré Logistics Canada was awarded the Canadian government's contract to ship the waste out of the Philippines.[9]

At the Subic Special Economic and Freeport Zone[10] on 30 May 2019, 69 shipping containers of Canadian trash were loaded onto the cargo ship M/V Bavaria for transport to Canada[9][11] at a cost of US$840,000.[12] After being transferred to the Anna Maersk while in Taiwan, the trash was still on schedule[9] to reach Canada by the end of June 2019, after which—according to Environment and Climate Change Canada—it would end up at a Vancouver waste-to-energy plant.[12]

On 4 June, with the refuse matter considered settled, Philippine Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea lifted Duterte's five-day bans on traveling to Canada and doing business with Canadian officials. By 6 June though, the Philippine ambassador to Canada had not yet returned.[13] Finally, on 29 June 2019, 69 containers of Chronic Plastics' wayward trash[14] arrived at the Roberts Bank Superport in Delta, British Columbia.[15]