Rotting Canadian garbage making quite a stink in the Philippines

Sunday, March 22, 2015, 1:49 PM - Piles of rotting garbage shipped from Canada have sparked protests in the city of Manila.

Fifty containers carrying vast amounts of waste, including adult diapers, have been reeking up the city port for more than two years.

The trash has triggered protests from environmentalists and public health activists, who claim the containers hold toxic and hazardous waste.

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Philippine officials have since indicated that the containers are filled with household waste, but do no pose any immediate danger or threat to local residents.

But the stench is proving to be too much to take.

So how did so much garbage from Canada end up in the capital city?

It's being chalked up to a case of misunderstanding.

The containers arrived in the Philippine port in 2013. They were shipped by a Canadian plastics exporter, supposedly filled with recyclable plastic materials.

However, upon further inspection, customs officials discovered the shipment was filled with stinking household garbage and immediately impounded it in the city port, where it remains today.

The company behind the shipment denies having sent any garbage to the Asian nation.

The Philippines' Bureau of Customs accepted the shipment under the assumption that is was meant for recycling.

According to an international treaty known as the Basal Convention, developed countries such as Canada are forbidden from exporting their waste. 

Protesters are trying to appeal to the Canadian government by asking that they claim the garbage and take it back to Canada.

Source: Huffington Post

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