Zero-waste coalition hits dumping of garbage on PH
MANILA, Philippines—Zero-waste advocates on Friday expressed their disgust over an attempt to smuggle into the country some 50 containers of trash mislabeled as recyclable plastics from Canada.
“We are not a garbage dump,” said Romy Hidalgo, an officer of EcoWaste Coalition and the nongovernment organization representative to the National Solid Waste Management Commission.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this unabashed attempt to dump hazardous waste misrepresented as recyclable plastic into our country,” Hidalgo said in a statement.
On Monday, the Bureau of Customs reportedly intercepted a shipment of 50 container vans of plastic trash from Canada at the Port of Manila.
Deputy customs commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno was quoted as saying it was the shipper’s responsibility to take the trash back to Canada.
“This botched illegal importation violates our Constitution and our major environmental laws, including Republic Act No. 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which prohibits the importation of toxic waste disguised as ‘recyclable’ or ‘with recyclable content,’” Hidalgo said.
It also undermines the efforts of local government units (LGUs) and Congress to reduce plastic waste, he said.
At present, more than 90 LGUs around the country have passed ordinances banning plastic bags while a bill proposing a nationwide ban is currently being drafted in the legislature.
Waste audits conducted by environmental groups over the years have revealed that about 75 percent of detritus found in Manila Bay is composed of plastic waste, 25 percent of which are plastic bags, according to EcoWaste.
The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternative’s Shalimar Vitan said “countries like Canada may be beginning to think that the Philippines is the mythical ‘away’ of their ‘throw-away’ culture.”
“No community, let alone a country, deserves to be unjustly treated as a dumping ground. No community is disposable,” Vitan said.
She said the government should ensure that the attempt to smuggle waste from Canada into the country does not happen again.
Canadian activists also expressed their dismay over the illegal importation.
“We are deeply embarrassed at how government policies here have caused such bad behavior by some toward the environment and the good people of the Philippines. This is a disgrace,” said Buddy Boyd of Zero Waste Canada.
The zero-waste advocates have demanded that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources notify its counterpart, Environment Canada, about the violation and bring appropriate charges against the Canadian shipper and Philippine consignee.
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