PHL must ship back to Canada toxic wastes found at Port of Manila

Photo courtesy of Change.org

MANILA — ANG NARS Rep. Leah Paquiz expressed her dismay over the 50 forty- feet container vans filled with toxic waste materials from Canada.

The contaminated container vans occupying space at the congested Port of Manila was discovered to have used plastic bags, bottles, newspaper, household garbage, and even adult diapers.

In a press conference Wednesday at the House of Representatives, Paquiz said the contaminated waste materials shipped by Canada to the country are hazardous to health and should be immediately brought back to its point of origin.

“Ibalik yun sa kanila, kunin ng Canada kasi hindi po tayo tambakan ng basura. Hindi natin alam kung anong sakit ang meron doon tapos (baka) kumalat sa atin,” Paquiz, who is also a nurse, said.

In an inspection held last March 2014, the Department of Health (DOH) ordered that the 18 opened container vans must be disinfected as soon as possible. Uo to now, the 50 container vans are still eating up space in the Port of Manila and extracting garbage juice which can bring extreme health hazards and environmental problems in the country.

At present, the port of Manila is experiencing congestion of container vans which greatly affected the country for the past weeks.

According to a statement by EcoWaste Coalition, the removal of the 50 containers would free up space approximately the size of Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park.

Last April, the Canadian Embassy released a statement that they are aware of the problem and the containers can be shipped back if found that they violated the Basel Convention.

Canada and the Philippines are signatories to the said Convention.

The Basel Convention of 1988 is designed “to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries.”

The primary objective of the treaty is to protect human health and environment against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes.