People collect plastic materials at a garbage dump in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on March 23. The Basel Convention requires its signatories to seek permission from other countries before exporting hazardous and household waste.
Canada opposes ban on ‘indefensible’ practice of shipping hazardous waste to developing countries
A spokesperson for Canada’s environment minister said the government withdrew its support for the Ban Amendment when it was expanded to prohibit such exports for recycling as well as disposal.
People collect plastic materials at a garbage dump in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on March 23. The Basel Convention requires its signatories to seek permission from other countries before exporting hazardous and household waste.
VANCOUVER—A Seattle-based environmental organization is shaming Canada for refusing to support a ban on the dumping of hazardous waste in developing countries.
The proposed amendment would strengthen an international treaty called the Basel Convention, which governs the global movement of hazardous waste. Canada, a signatory since 1989, has come under fire in recent years for allegedly violating the treaty.
In 2013 and 2014, a private Canadian company shipped 103 containers to the Philippines, labelling them as plastics for recycling even though they also contained waste like diapers. For years, the Philippine government has been asking Canada to take back its trash, rotting at a port near Manilla.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
“The people and environment of the Philippines were failed by two governments and an intergovernmental body designed to prevent and mitigate just such acts,” said Jim Puckett, the executive director of the Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based environmental organization focused on waste.
“This is what we can only call dysfunctional. And three words come to mind: Shame on us.”
Puckett made the comments in Geneva this week during a meeting between the parties to the Basel Convention.
The trash dispute came to a head in April, when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to declare war. Canada has now agreed to repatriate the 69 containers that still haven’t been disposed of.
Environment and Climate Change Canada has not yet said where the waste will go once it returns through the Port of Vancouver, but it appears the landfill in Delta, B.C. would have the capacity for it, according to the dump’s 2018 annual report.
For the last five or six years, though, Canada was “just thumbing its nose at the convention,” said Kathleen Ruff, a long-time human-rights activist and the founder of the advocacy group RightOnCanada.ca.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
The Basel Convention requires its signatories to seek permission from other countries before exporting hazardous and household waste. The Philippine government had prohibited imports of household waste, but despite its obligations Canada did not begin regulating exports of household waste until 2016.
The Government of Canada has not taken legal action against the company that exported the waste because it was not breaking any Canadian rules at the time, a spokesperson for Environment and Climate Change Canada said.
Canada faced no repercussions under the Basel Convention either, Puckett said in an interview.
“It just begs the question, why do we have a treaty if we can’t enforce it,” he said.
Ruff agrees that stronger enforcement is critical.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
“If we’re serious about the environment and stopping the destruction of the planet we must start requiring consequences and action and compliance,” she said.
Puckett reiterated calls for Canada to support an amendment to the convention that would ban developed countries from dumping hazardous waste in developing countries.
“It’s still a huge problem,” Puckett said.
The amendment has already been supported by numerous signatories, including the European Union, but support from two more is needed to bring the Ban Amendment, as it’s known, into force.
Caroline Thériault, deputy director of communications for Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, said Canada withdrew its support for the Ban Amendment when it was expanded to prohibit the export of hazardous waste for recycling as well as disposal.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
“Environmentally sound recycling and recovery operations, including in non-OECD states, can lead to both environmental and economic benefits, and Canada believes the text of the Ban Amendment could be improved to promote environmentally sound recycling in all countries,” she said in an email.
Ruff said it’s “indefensible to be shipping waste to developing countries in that they have less capacity than we in the wealthy industrialized countries have to recycle waste or deal with them properly.”
“When they realize they can’t just dump it in developing countries they’ll start making efforts to not generate so much waste,” she said.
While the future of the Ban Amendment remains an open question, the parties to the Basel Convention — including Canada — did agree Friday to extend the treaty to cover plastic waste.
“It appears, on this issue, Canada is not on the wrong side of history,” said Ruff.
Ainslie Cruickshank Ainslie Cruickshank is a former staff reporter for Star Vancouver.
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free).
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free).
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation