Re-export of 6.5K tons of South Korea waste eyed next week

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine and their South Korean officials have agreed to repatriate next week 6,500 tons of garbage impounded in Misamis Oriental.

In a press briefing called by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and environmental group EcoWaste Coalition, the Mindanao International Container Terminal (MICT) announced that it was eyeing to re-export the 51 containers of mixed garbage back to Pyeongtaek City, South Korea, on Jan. 9.

“We expect the 51 garbage-filled containers stored at MICT to be homebound by January 9 provided that all regulatory requirements are readily available. Their expedited re-export is what BOC wants and this is what our people are yearning for,” John Simon MICT Port Collector said.

Simon explained that the re-exportation of the waste to South Korea was due to the failure of the consignee, Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corp., to secure an import permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and for its misdeclaration of the garbage shipment as “plastic synthetic flakes.”

The re-exportation order is pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act 10863 (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act), Republic Act 6969 (Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act), and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, the BOC emphasized.

The re-export of the said 51 containers is estimated to cost US$47,430, specifically for inland and ocean freight charges.

Meanwhile, the Korean garbage shipment at the Verde Soko compound inside the Phividec Industrial Estate in Barangay Sta. Cruz in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, are also being eyed to be shipped back this month.

The agreement was made following a bilateral meeting between the two governments last Dec. 27 and 28 in Tagoloan.

It can be recalled that a shipload of 5,176.91 metric tons of misdeclared “plastic synthetic flakes” exported by Green Soko Co. Ltd. and consigned to Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corp. arrived at the MICT in July 2018 without prior import clearance from the DENR.

The same consignee facilitated the importation of additional 51 containers of “plastic synthetic flakes,” which arrived at the MICT in October 2018. /cbb