The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is coordinating with the Bureau of Customs and the Justice department to file charges against the exporter and consignee of the illegal waste shipments from the United States that were recently intercepted at the Subic Bay Freeport.
On Oct. 22, Undersecretary for Solid Waste Management and Local Government Units Concerns Benny Antiporda and Undersecretary for Special Concerns Edilberto Leonardo went to Subic to inspect the shipments.
The shipments consisting of 30 container vans arrived in Subic in mid-October under the name VIPA Inc. and were consigned to Bataan 2020 Inc. with a business address in Baesa, Quezon City.
The manifesto declared that the cargoes were “American old corrugated cartons for repulping.”
An examination of the initial five containers by Customs and the DENR revealed “prohibited materials which were illegally imported.”
Antiporda said the waste materials found in the container vans were a mix of plastic, paper and face masks, a violation of DENR Administrative Order 2013-22 or the Revised Procedures and Standards for the Management of Hazardous Wastes.
“Because of our experiences in these illegal shipments, such as those from Canada and South Korea, it is now much easier for the government to monitor and control banned activities,” Antiporda said.
If the concerned companies were found liable, they would be held responsible to return the wastes to their source at their own expense, he said.
The shipments are also in violation of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal prohibiting the transboundary movement of hazardous waste and the import of mixed and municipal waste, the DENR said.
Customs is set to open all 30 container vans to determine the specific cases to be filed against the exporter and the consignee.