Philippine officials announced this week that it will be sending back some 25 tons of trash that were originally shipped to the country from Hong Kong. The latest scandal comes at the heels of a recent scuffle between the Philippines and Canada, where the latter had shipped close to 2,500 tons of household waste between 2014 and 2015.
According to the deputy customs collector for Northern Mindanao John Simon, the trash that was sent to the Philippines was around 25,610 kilograms of crushed electronic waste. The shipment was traced to a company in Hong Kong called Hin Yuen Tech Env Limited. The shipment was consigned to a firm called Crown Win industrial Limited, which is based in Pasay City in Luzon.
The shipment had reportedly arrived in the southern region of Mindanao at the Mindanao Container Terminal in Misamis Oriental province on January. Officials only discovered what the contents of the shipment were in late May.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin posted on social media that the Philippines will immediately be sending back the shipment to Hong Kong. The official also reiterated that the country has halted all trash shipments following orders from Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
The Philippines is currently in the middle of a political fracas with Canada over the same issue. Two weeks ago, Duterte ordered all of the country's ambassadors and consuls in Ottawa to immediately return home after Canada failed to take back 2,500 tons of household waste.
The shipment reportedly contained items such as plastic bottles, used adult diapers, and plastic waste. Duterte had instructed officials to hire a private shipping firm to return the trash to Canada.
In response to the recent incident, Hong Kong's Environment Bureau announced in a statement that they do not allow the export of waste to any country for dumping. The country's expressed its commitment to fighting illegal movement of waste. Officials believe that the shipment seized in the Philippines may have been a test to see if it would pass customs inspection.
The Hong Kong agency revealed that they have already gotten in touch with Philippine authorities to gather more information to help them in their own investigation into the matter.
The dumping of waste by any country to another is strictly prohibited under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. The agreement was enacted in 1989, following the discovery of tons of waste being dumped in developing countries. Both China and the Philippines are signatories in the agreement.
