Canada told, bring back home your garbage

We, public interest groups for a toxics-free future from 30 countries, are concerned about the shipment of 50 container vans of mixed trash from Canada to the Philippines, in the guise of plastic recycling.

We support the rightful stance taken by the Philippine government and the various environmental and zero-waste groups to have the illegal shipment returned to Canada for contravening Philippine laws and the “Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.”

We commend the Philippines’ Customs authorities for seizing the stinking shipment and laud the Filipino government and people for sending an unambiguous message to garbage exporters that the Philippines is not a dump.

To put an end to this deceitful and unethical waste dumping that has become a routine practice across the globe, we urge the governments of both Canada and the Philippines to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment, which prohibits hazardous waste transfer from developed to developing countries even for “recycling.”

Countries and companies engaged in the trade of recyclables must ensure that only clean materials are sent abroad for recycling, and that recycling is not used as a camouflage for hazardous waste disposal and dumping.

We stand in solidarity with the Philippines in asking Canada to take back its garbage without further delay.

—SIGNED BY 63 INDIVIDUALS FROM NONGOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN ARGENTINA, AUSTRALIA, BANGLADESH, BELARUS, CHINA, COOK ISLANDS, CZECH REPUBLIC, ETHIOPIA, GERMANY, HUNGARY, INDIA, INDONESIA, IVORY COAST, KENYA, LEBANON, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, MOROCCO, NEPAL, NEW ZEALAND, PHILIPPINES, RUSSIA, SWEDEN, SWITZERLAND, TAIWAN, TANZANIA, TUNISIA, THAILAND, URUGUAY, and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, c/o Ecowaste Coalition, Unit 329, Eagle Court, 26 Matalino St., QC