Canada vows to resolve garbage shipment issue

MANILA, Philippines - The Canadian government intends to resolve the importation of 50 shipping containers of garbage from Canada that was confiscated by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) last February, Ambassador Neil Reeder said Tuesday.

He said Canada is aware that the situation is not good but they are trying to resolve that and have been working with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in resolving the issue, noting that they are “stewards” of environment in Canada.

“We discovered the situation where these wastes came and we are trying to determine what transpired and why we ran into this problem but we will resolve it,” Reeder told reporters.

“We are responsible stewards of the environment in Canada. We expect our companies and the importing companies to be socially responsible. So we will try to resolve this as best as we can because again we have a very strong relationship. We do not want to be affected by issues like that,” he added.

The BOC has filed charges against the owner and customs broker of the shipment’s consignee, Valenzuela-based firm Chronic Plastics. The shipment was misdeclared as assorted plastic scrap meant for recycling.