Canada offers to pay shipping costs of repatriating garbage from the Philippines

After the president of the Philippines engaged in some serious trash-talk with Canada and threatened to “declare war” over a garbage shipment, Global Affairs Canada said efforts were being made to bring the garbage home.

See also

• Philippines president threatens war with Canada over garbage pileup
• Canada says efforts underway to bring its garbage back from the Philippines
• Green Party wins second-ever federal seat in Nanaimo-Ladysmith election

And this week, Global Affairs said Canada has offered to pay for the shipping costs associated with returning the waste to Canada.

“We have made an offer to repatriate this Canadian waste and continue to be closely engaged with the Philippines to resolve the outstanding details,” a Global Affairs spokesperson told Daily Hive on Tuesday.

This, they said, includes legal and regulatory issues, to ensure the shipment’s return to Canada as quickly as possible.

“Canada remains committed to finalizing arrangements for the return of the waste to Canada for disposal,” the spokesperson said.

The situation all began late last month, when the president of the Philippines voiced his displeasure with the shipment of illegal garbage that ended up in Manila five years ago.

According to a report from ABS-CBN News, the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte, made the threat during a briefing held following a large earthquake in Luzon on Monday.

“I want a boat prepared. I’ll give a warning to Canada maybe next week that they better pull that thing out or I will set sail doon sa Canada, ibuhos ko ‘yang basura nila doon (I’ll pour their garbage there),” Duterte is quoted as saying. “We’ll declare war against them.”

Duterte’s comments reportedly relate to a massive amount of waste from Canada – 103 containers of it in total – which ended up in Manila between 2013 and 2014.

In a 2017 visit to the Philippines, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he “discussed the garbage issue ” with Duterte, according to the report. “I am happy to commit to you all now that Canada is very much engaged in finding a solution on that.”