OTTAWA – The president of the Philippines says if Canada doesn’t take back tonnes of trash within the next week he will “declare war” and ship the containers back himself.
READ MORE: Canada violated international law by dumping garbage in the Philippines: lawyers
Filipino media outlets are reporting that Rodrigo Duterte made threats Tuesday about dozens of shipping containers filled with Canadian household and electronic garbage that has been rotting in a port near Manila for nearly six years.
WATCH: Canadians throwing away more garbage than ever
More than 100 of the containers were shipped to Manila by a Canadian company in 2013 and 2014, improperly labelled as plastics for recycling.
Customs inspectors discovered they actually contained garbage, including soiled adult diapers and kitchen trash.
Canada has been trying for nearly six years to convince the Philippines to dispose of the garbage there even though a Filipino court ordered the trash returned to Canada in 2016.
READ MORE: Activists urge Justin Trudeau to take Canada’s trash out of Philippines
Last week a British Columbia lawyer said in a legal brief that Canada is in violation of the international Basel Convention, which forbids developed nations from sending their toxic or hazardous waste to developing nations without informed consent.
Schiffy94 on April 24th, 2019 at 20:25 UTC »
I think Rodrigo learned everything he knows about diplomacy from a single round of Civ V.
Holanz on April 24th, 2019 at 19:49 UTC »
Gives 1 week to take back garbage Canada refuses to take back 6 years ago.
kowell on April 24th, 2019 at 17:09 UTC »
While the prospect of a war is ridiculous for so many reasons, can we please find out who is responsible for this fuck-up (I assume a morally-bankrupt, penny-pinching bogus recycling company) and hold them accountable for this shit-show ?