The MV Bavaria freighter in Subic Bay, Philippines – © Noel CELIS
After a long campaign to urge Canada to take back this waste, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ruled last week by ordering the immediate departure of this cargo.
The 69 containers were loaded aboard a cargo ship at Subic Bay, a port northwest of Manila that is a former US naval base, and the ship sailed for Canada. "Baaaaaaaaa bye, as they say", tweeted Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin, with a photo of the departing freighter."We are engaged with the Philippines and we work closely with themsaid Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna on Thursday.
We will not be intimidated by developed countries.
Malaysia announced a few days ago that it would return 450 tons of plastic waste to several countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United States. "Malaysia will not be the dump of the world", said Malaysian Minister of Energy, Environment and Science Yeo Bee Yin.We will not be intimidated by developed countries."
China has long accepted plastic waste from around the world, before stopping suddenly last year, citing environmental concerns.
Several Southeast Asian countries that had placed themselves in the slot left vacant by Beijing are giving up.
In the Philippines, the dispute involved dozens of containers sent by a Canadian company in 2013 and 2014, which were inappropriately labeled as containing recyclable waste. This dispute has been going on for years, but it really exploded last month when, in a speech, Rodrigo Duterte said: "Let's fight Canada. I will declare them war."
Canada had pledged to take back its garbage but did not respect a deadline set for May 15 by Manila to do so. And the Philippines had recalled their ambassador to Ottawa as well as their consuls-general. The tension mounted a notch when Rodrigo Duterte spokesman Salvador Panelo threatened to immediately send the cargo and dump it into Canadian waters.
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