10 more groups ask Trudeau to take back smuggled trash

Ten Canadian and international organizations have joined a local environmental watchdog in urging Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take back the 103 containers of mixed garbage that have been illegally shipped into the country more than five years ago.

In a letter to Trudeau on Monday, groups including Greenpeace Canada, Canadian Environmental Law Association and Toronto Environmental Alliance echoed the appeal of EcoWaste Coalition to immediately resolve the garbage scandal, which involved 2,500 tons of household trash, used adult diapers and electronic wastes wrongly declared scrap plastics for recycling.

“[The dumping] is a violation of Canada’s obligations under the UN Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal,” said the signatories, which also included several members of the academe and scientists.

“Despite making promises, Canada has failed to take action,” the letter read.

It also called for the ratification of the Basel Ban Amendment, which would prohibit the export of hazardous waste from more developed to less developed nations.

The groups said Canada was one of only 24 eligible countries that had not supported the amendment.

Kathleen Ruff, director of human rights group RightOnCanada, said Trudeau’s past promises to act in an environmentally responsible manner were not enough.