Manila: Demonstrators slammed a government plan to incinerate tons of plastic wastes abandoned at the Port of Manila by a Canadian-based firm. They also urged Canadian Prime Minister to act on the matter by shipping back the trash to Canada.

“The Philippines is not a dumping ground,” says a banner carried by demonstrators from the EcoWaste Coalition, Piglas Kababaihan, and NARS Partylists and other allied groups during a rally in front of the Canadian Embassy in Makati City on Thursday.

The protest was held in time for President Benigno Aquino III’s May 7-9 visit to Canada.

From August to September 2013, a total of 50 40-foot container loads of assorted plastic trash, as well as organic and non-organic wastes, were shipped to the Port of Manila by the Ontario, Canada-based firm Chronic Inc.

Chronic Inc’s Philippine partner had abandoned the cargo and the Canadian government had denied having anything to do with the garbage. The Philippines had been left to contend with what to do with the huge amount of trash languishing in its piers.

During the protest action on Thursday, the demonstrators said Canada should take back the waste after all their citizens were the ones who created it. They argued that leaving the trash in the Philippines is against international agreements such as the Basel Convention.

Compelled to take action on the trash, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said the trash would be turned into landfill while the rest, would be incinerated. The demonstrators held an opposing view. They argued that incineration would worsen an already bad situation as burning the trash would pollute the air.

During the demonstrations, Aileen Lucero, coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition said, Aquino should tell Canada to reimport their trash. Prime Minister Harper she pointed out, “should not object to such a legitimate demand.”

“It will be scandalous for President Aquino to allow the imported trash to be landfilled in his home province Tarlac or elsewhere, incinerated in Cavite or used as alternative fuels for cement plants in Bulacan. Our communities should not be forced to bear the burden of increased environmental pollution due to Canada’s garbage,” she said.

She said that as parties to the “Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous and Their Disposal,” Canada and the Philippines must act with resolve to conclude the garbage shipment scandal to protect human health and the environment.

Lawyer Amang Mejia, EcoWaste Coalition’s counsel, said that the Philippines “has the sovereign right to ban the entry or disposal of foreign hazardous wastes and other wastes in its territory.”

“Returning the unlawful garbage shipment, which government prosecutors had earlier determined to be in violation of the country’s laws, to the state of export and punishing the culprits will send a strong signal to waste traders that the Philippines does not condone illegal traffic of trash,” he said.

A petition signing effort through the Change.org website was started last year calling on the Canadian government to take the trash back.

The petition effort had so far gained 25,000 signatures.