Company Illegally Ships 69 Garbage Containers To Philippines, Almost Starts A War When Canada Refuses To Take Them Back For 6 Years
Canada welcomes back its garbage as a ship carrying 69 containers of waste mislabeled as plastic recyclables were returned to the rightful owners. The Canada-Philippines dispute over waste started back in 2013 when a recycling company shipped mislabeled Canadian garbage to Manila. After a Filipino court ruled in 2016 that the garbage must be returned, Canadians made arrangements this May to accept it and bring it back home. The waste is said to be sent to a Waste-to-Energy facility in Burnaby where it will be incinerated.
Image credits: Teddy Locsin Jr.
The containers were loaded overnight at the port of Subic in Manila and were sent on a month-long journey to Vancouver last week. After a long-running row over waste export, a Philippine court in 2016 declared the import of Canadian waste (the whole 2,400 tonnes) illegal, which were mislabeled as plastics for recycling.
Image credits: Ecowaste Coalition
Canada says that the waste that was exported to the Philippines some five years ago was a private transaction done by a corporation without the Canadian government’s consent. The port back in Canada checked the containers before they left and verified that they really did contain recyclable plastics, therefore, the Filipino company accepted the shipment.
Image credits: Ecowaste Coalition
Later on, the Canadian company was informed that the container that was supposed to contain recyclable plastics, in fact, contained garbage. Since then, the company has gone bankrupt leaving no legal entity responsible for the action.
Image credits: Ecowaste Coalition
The waste containers caused so much trouble, it even started a diplomatic dispute between the officials of the two countries. Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines even threatened Canada with war and withdrew two of its diplomats from Canada after it failed to meet the deadline to take back its garbage.
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As a Canadian, I say sorry about that. You declared war on us though?! That's it, I'm only saying sorry twice, jerk, and I used up one of them in this sentence, so have a nice day. BTW you smell nice.
You don't need to believe this freak president. He's all mouth with no brain.
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For anyone else wondering why Canada wouldn't take it back. Apparently there were laws in place that meant we couldn't, and those had to be worked around. I wish I had more details, but it does explain it a bit. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93Philippines_waste_dispute, https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/14/17/trudeau-canada-working-to-resolve-irritant-trash-issue-with-ph)
I might support Trudeau in refusing to take HIM back.
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Yes it's an awful situation but "the president of the Philippines even threatened Canada with war" is even more alarming thing about ourselves today...
The Canadians would just have to follow the Russian playbook on that one. Wait for winter when all the foreign combatants freeze to death trying to cross the vast tundra.
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Indonesia is follow suit.. Some paper garbage that actually sent to China is rerouted to Indonesia, because now China ban import of paper-garbage. The Indonesian is not pleased, and return that back.
Talk about a total freak out by the Filipino leader. Not much brains in his head are there? Start a war over such a minor thing? What an idiot
If it had come down to war, the Philippine air force could have dropped the trash on Canada. Then it would be back where it started.
The Philippine air force doesn't have enough transport aircraft to deliver it there. They only have 4 C-130s, which is the only aircraft in their inventory which could hold a shipping container (and even that's a bit of a stretch). It would 18 trips to get all the trash across the pacific, and I'm sure the Canadians would have intervened by then.
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Not only Philippines. Canada also send garbage containers to Malaysia & Indonesia for the past 6 years. You think these countries are your rubbish bin, is it?
It's not like the Canadian government backed-up a Canadian-flagged freighter and dumped it all out on their pier. This was a bad business deal between two non-state entities. Both governments worked out how to deal with it. If you're from one of those places, complain to the local companies advertising that they accept global garbage.
Load More Replies... As a Canadian, I say sorry about that. You declared war on us though?! That's it, I'm only saying sorry twice, jerk, and I used up one of them in this sentence, so have a nice day. BTW you smell nice.
You don't need to believe this freak president. He's all mouth with no brain.
Load More Replies... For anyone else wondering why Canada wouldn't take it back. Apparently there were laws in place that meant we couldn't, and those had to be worked around. I wish I had more details, but it does explain it a bit. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93Philippines_waste_dispute, https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/14/17/trudeau-canada-working-to-resolve-irritant-trash-issue-with-ph)
I might support Trudeau in refusing to take HIM back.
Load More Replies... Yes it's an awful situation but "the president of the Philippines even threatened Canada with war" is even more alarming thing about ourselves today...
The Canadians would just have to follow the Russian playbook on that one. Wait for winter when all the foreign combatants freeze to death trying to cross the vast tundra.
Load More Replies... Indonesia is follow suit.. Some paper garbage that actually sent to China is rerouted to Indonesia, because now China ban import of paper-garbage. The Indonesian is not pleased, and return that back.
Talk about a total freak out by the Filipino leader. Not much brains in his head are there? Start a war over such a minor thing? What an idiot
If it had come down to war, the Philippine air force could have dropped the trash on Canada. Then it would be back where it started.
The Philippine air force doesn't have enough transport aircraft to deliver it there. They only have 4 C-130s, which is the only aircraft in their inventory which could hold a shipping container (and even that's a bit of a stretch). It would 18 trips to get all the trash across the pacific, and I'm sure the Canadians would have intervened by then.
Load More Replies... Not only Philippines. Canada also send garbage containers to Malaysia & Indonesia for the past 6 years. You think these countries are your rubbish bin, is it?
It's not like the Canadian government backed-up a Canadian-flagged freighter and dumped it all out on their pier. This was a bad business deal between two non-state entities. Both governments worked out how to deal with it. If you're from one of those places, complain to the local companies advertising that they accept global garbage.
Load More Replies... 
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