DENR vows to find solution over garbage shipped from S. Korea

To recall, about 103 shipping containers of 2,450 tons of garbage from Chronic Incorporated, a plastic exporter based in Ontario, Canada, were brought to the Philippines between 2013 to 2014. (Photo by Bas Emmen/Unsplash)

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) vowed to immediately take appropriate action to the issue on the garbage shipped to the Philippines from South Korea about four months ago.

“Hindi natin hahayaang humaba ang [isyung] ito (We will not let this issue continue),” DENR Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management Benny Antiporda said on Tuesday, November 13.

On July 21, some 5,100 tons of waste onboard MV Affluent Ocean, arrived at the Mindanao Container Terminal (MCT) in Misamis Oriental.

According to DENR’s initial findings, the shipment, misdeclared as “plastic synthetic flakes,” contained used dextrose tubes, used diapers, batteries, bulbs, and electronic equipment.

It was consigned to South Korean Verde Soko II Industrial Corporation, which the DENR did not recognize as an importer of recyclable materials.

Antiporda said the DENR, through its Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), is currently conducting a waste analysis and characterization study (WACS) on the shipment.

“Appropriate action,” he stressed, will immediately be taken once the result of the WACS is revealed, probably within this week.

The DENR official added that it will recommend the return of the garbage to South Korea if its contents are found to be hazardous.

Filing of administrative and criminal charges against those behind the shipment will also be recommended.

EcoWaste Coalition earlier called on the government not to allow garbage imports and demand other countries and manufacturers of plastic and other disposable goods to “take full responsibility for their products throughout their whole life cycle.”

“We find this latest incident of plastic waste dumping outrageous and unacceptable. Why do we keep on accepting garbage from other countries when we know that our country’s plastic waste, which is literally everywhere, is spilling to the oceans and endangering marine life?” Aileen Lucero, EcoWaste Coalition’s National Coordinator, said.

“We also find it ironic that while South Korea is taking action to control its plastic waste, including banning plastic bags in supermarkets starting October this year, and yet its unwanted plastics are being sent abroad,” she added.

To recall, about 103 shipping containers of 2,450 tons of garbage from Chronic Incorporated, a plastic exporter based in Ontario, Canada, were brought to the Philippines between 2013 to 2014.

These containers were supposed to contain recyclable plastics, but upon inspection by the Bureau of Customs (BOC), these were actually filled with wastes like used adult diapers and household trash.

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