Illegally shipped trash from Canada dumped in Tarlac

Photo from Change.Org

MANILA — A sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac, became the dumping site of 29 container vans filled with illegally shipped trash from Canada.

Rufo Colayco, president and chief executive officer of the Metro Clark Waste Management Corp. told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the trash were dumped in the area despite local opposition.

The trash were accepted as scrap materials for recycling but the Bureau of Customs (BoC) found household wastes in the trash.

Colayco said the company accepted the trash following request from the BoC with a certification from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that the trash do not contain hazardous wastes.

Lormelyn Claudio, director of the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau in Central Luzon said in the same PDI report that the container vans underwent waste analysis and characterization study (WACS).

She added that the study conducted November last year showed that “the shipment contains municipal solid wastes.”

Environmental groups however doubt that the cargoes are non-hazardous.

The DENR dropped its demand to ask Canada to take the trash back citing diplomatic relations.