PH, Canada urged: Ratify Basel Ban Amendment

Nearly a year after garbage dumped in the country was shipped back to Canada, local and international environment groups again urged both countries to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment to avert a similar crisis in the future.

Ratifying the amendment “is a fundamental next step … to prohibit the hazardous waste trade,” said Dr. Joe DiGangi, senior science and technical advisor of the International Pollutants Elimination Network.

Between 2013 and 2014, over 2,400 tons of residual waste falsely declared as scrap plastics arrived from Canada and languished in the country despite repeated calls for action from environmental groups until it was finally sent back to Canada last year.

But misdeclared waste from South Korea and Hong Kong were also intercepted and reexported last year.

The Basel Ban Amendment would put an end to the practice of developed countries treating the Philippines as dumping ground for their waste, said Ecowaste Coalition’s Aileen Lucero. —Jhesset O. Enano