The Bureau of Customs (BOC) Cagayan De Oro has exported back to South Korea the last batch of 251 containers of hazardous wastes illegally dumped in the Philippines in 2018.
The final batch, consisting of 80 containers comprised of 6,000 metric tons of wastes, was shipped back from Mindanao Container Terminal to Pyeongtaek City, South Korea last August 4, BOC said in a statement.
Re-export of the 251 containers started in January this year but was delayed by restrictions imposed amid the coronavirus disease pandemic.
BOC said the wastes were re-exported to South Korea after the consignee failed to secure an import permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) prior to importation and misdeclared the waste shipments as “plastic synthetic flakes.”
The DENR Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Region X, which examined the shipments consigned to Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corp, found they actually contained hazardous household wastes.
Verde Soko on two separate occasions brought into the Philippines one shipload containing 5,177 metric tons of various plastic and waste materials and another shipload of 51 forty-foot containers, both declared as plastic synthetic flakes.
Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero had ordered the immediate re-exportation of the shipments pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 10863 (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act), RA 6969 (Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act), and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.
MCT sub-port collector John Simon said the re-exportation of the illegal hazardous wastes “is a clear signal to all concerned that our country is not a global dump and that waste traffickers will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
