Philippine Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on June 4 sent a memo to department heads and government corporations, saying that the ban on travel to Canada and on interactions with Canadian officials is over.
The Southeast Asian country on May 30 loaded 69 containers of garbage onto the M/V Bavaria cargo ship, which is scheduled to arrive at Canadian port city in Vancouver on June 30.
In 2013 and 2014, a Canadian company shipped 103 containers labelled as plastics for recycling to the Philippines. However, an inspection of the Philippines Bureau of Customs found that the containers were filled with different types of waste, including household trash, diapers, newspapers, and plastic bottles.
Earlier this month, Manila asked Ottawa to take back the garbage before May 15, but the Canadian government missed the deadline, forcing the Philippines to take tough diplomatic actions, recalling its envoys to Ottawa.
Canada recently announced it had awarded a contract to Bolloré Logistics Canada to bring truckloads of mixed trash from the Philippines back to Canada. The country will pay the costs of the preparation, transfer, shipment, and disposal of the waste.
