Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada assured that getting back the illegal garbage shipped to the Philippines from his country is now possible.
“It is now theoretically possible to take it back,” he said.
In a press conference after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Canada Summit, the Prime Minister was asked about the issue as he has given a statement that he had a ‘Canadian solution’ to the issue during his visit in the Philippines two years ago.
Trudeau cleared that the ‘root’ of the issue was in a private business.
“One of the early barriers I was talking about when I was here two years ago that represented a challenge is that Canadian legal regulations prevented us from being able to receive the waste back in Canada, even though it originally came from Canada,” he said.
He, however, stressed that those regulations and impediments have now been addressed.
“Canada is of course very open to working with the government of the Philippines to solve this question,” Trudeau said.
He mentioned that he has discussed this issue with President Rodrigo Duterte before the ASEAN-Canada Summit earlier.
“I committed to him as much as I am committing to you that Canada is working hard to resolve the issue,” he added.
The only issue now that both governments are addressing according to him is the financial responsibility, and the liability of the ‘garbage mess.’
The Canadian Prime Minister stressed that this issue originated from a commercial transaction and not the government.
Between 2013-2014, about 103 shipping containers of 2450 tons of garbage from Chronic Incorporated, a plastic exporter in Ontario were brought to the Philippines. These containers were supposed to contain recyclable plastics from Vancouver. However, upon inspection by the Bureau of Customs (BOC), these were actually filled with wastes like used adult diapers and household trash.