Canadian garbage on way home from Philippines

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) – A ship loaded with nearly 1,700 tons of Canada-generated garbage – the equivalent in weight of 250 African elephants – left the Philippines Friday bound for Vancouver.

The 69 containers of trash were sent to the Philippines in 2013 and 2014 by Chronic, Inc., a plastics exporter based in Whitby, a city just east of Toronto.

They were supposed to contain recyclables, but an inspection discovered the cargo was actually a mix of plastics and household garbage, including adult diapers.

The Philippines has tried to get Canada to take the waste back but failed until President Rodrigo Duterte said last month that he was sending it back and would dump it in Canadian waters if it was not accepted at Vancouver.

To emphasize the point, Duterte recalled the country’s ambassador to Canada in mid-May.

Canada had the trash fumigated in the Philippines before it left and agreed to pay CAN$1.14 million to ship it back via the cargo ship M/V Bavaria.

News reports said Chronic is bankrupt, but the Canadian government is mulling over legal options to recover the costs.

“Part of the solution around this is making sure that we hold companies responsible if they’re illegally exporting waste to other countries,” Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said Thursday.

“The reality is developing countries no longer want to take plastic pollution or waste from developed countries, and that’s why we have a zero-plastic waste strategy. That’s why we’re going to be announcing different measures soon,” she said.

Environment groups cheered the decision, with Greenpeace and the EcoWaste Coalition sailing a small outrigger Thursday at a Philippine port sporting a banner that read: “Philippines: not a garbage dumping ground.”

It will take an estimated 20 days for the garbage to dock at Vancouver, where it will be treated at a waste-to-energy facility.