Reexport of South Korean garbage rescheduled on Sunday
Published Jan 8, 2019 02:02 pm
By Chito Chavez
The 51 containers of South Korean garbage will remain for another four days at the Mindanao International Container Terminal (MICT) in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental as its reexport was re-scheduled on Sunday from the previously announced date of January 9.
Ecowaste Coalition announces on January 2, 2019 that Philippines and South Korea Government have reached the agreement that will ensure the repatriation of some 6500 tons mixed wastes stranded at Misamis Oriental back to their origin in Pyeongtaek City during a press conference in Quezon City. (FILE PHOTO / ALVIN KASIBAN / MANILA BULLETIN)
The environmental group EcoWaste Coalition made this revelation after receiving an update via text from MICT Port collector John Simon.
Simon told Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition, that the schedule for reexportation has to be adjusted because the vessel that will bring the garbage back to South Korea will only arrive in Cagayan de Oro City on January 12.
“The arrival of the vessel (Maersk Shipping Lines) will be on the 12th of January (Saturday) and the loading of the cargo will begin immediately on the same day,” Simon said.
Simon noted the ceremonial closing and loading of the last container is set at 9 a.m. off January 13.
“The slight delay should not dampen our nation’s jubilation over the looming departure of the containerized South Korean garbage shipments to Pyeongtaek City where these came from,” said Lucero.
“After the 51 containers are gone, concerned parties could concentrate on the rebagging and eventual reexport of the bulk wastes dumped at the consignee’s premises inside a government-managed industrial park in Tagoloan. We expect the highest cooperation of the consignee, the Korean government, and our national and local government agencies to make this happen,” she added.
The bulk Korean garbage shipments have been lying at the compound of Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corporation, the consignee, located at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Barangay Sta. Cruz in Tagoloan.
It will be recalled that a shipload of 5,176.91 metric tons of misdeclared “plastic synthetic flakes” exported by Green Soko Co. Ltd. and consigned to Verde Soko arrived at the MICT in July 2018 without prior import clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Verde Soko also facilitated the importation of additional 51 containers of “plastic synthetic flakes,” which arrived at the MICT in October 2018.
Lucero warned “the removal of all the 6,500 tons of illegal mixed waste cargoes from South Korea should send a clear signal to rich countries, including Canada that has yet to take back their reeking trash from our land’’.
Insisting the Philippines is not a dumping ground for other country’s garbage, Lucero said “this should also prompt our policy makers into quickly banning the importation of plastic wastes and other foreign wastes to protect public health and the environment like what China has done”.
China starting January 2018 no longer accepts plastic scraps and other waste imports “to protect China’s environmental interests and people’s health” as emphasized by their Ministry of Environmental Protection in a notification to the World Trade Organization.
Ecowaste Coalition announces on January 2, 2019 that Philippines and South Korea Government have reached the agreement that will ensure the repatriation of some 6500 tons mixed wastes stranded at Misamis Oriental back to their origin in Pyeongtaek City during a press conference in Quezon City. (FILE PHOTO / ALVIN KASIBAN / MANILA BULLETIN)
The environmental group EcoWaste Coalition made this revelation after receiving an update via text from MICT Port collector John Simon.
Simon told Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition, that the schedule for reexportation has to be adjusted because the vessel that will bring the garbage back to South Korea will only arrive in Cagayan de Oro City on January 12.
“The arrival of the vessel (Maersk Shipping Lines) will be on the 12th of January (Saturday) and the loading of the cargo will begin immediately on the same day,” Simon said.
Simon noted the ceremonial closing and loading of the last container is set at 9 a.m. off January 13.
“The slight delay should not dampen our nation’s jubilation over the looming departure of the containerized South Korean garbage shipments to Pyeongtaek City where these came from,” said Lucero.
“After the 51 containers are gone, concerned parties could concentrate on the rebagging and eventual reexport of the bulk wastes dumped at the consignee’s premises inside a government-managed industrial park in Tagoloan. We expect the highest cooperation of the consignee, the Korean government, and our national and local government agencies to make this happen,” she added.
The bulk Korean garbage shipments have been lying at the compound of Verde Soko Philippines Industrial Corporation, the consignee, located at the Phividec Industrial Estate in Barangay Sta. Cruz in Tagoloan.
It will be recalled that a shipload of 5,176.91 metric tons of misdeclared “plastic synthetic flakes” exported by Green Soko Co. Ltd. and consigned to Verde Soko arrived at the MICT in July 2018 without prior import clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Verde Soko also facilitated the importation of additional 51 containers of “plastic synthetic flakes,” which arrived at the MICT in October 2018.
Lucero warned “the removal of all the 6,500 tons of illegal mixed waste cargoes from South Korea should send a clear signal to rich countries, including Canada that has yet to take back their reeking trash from our land’’.
Insisting the Philippines is not a dumping ground for other country’s garbage, Lucero said “this should also prompt our policy makers into quickly banning the importation of plastic wastes and other foreign wastes to protect public health and the environment like what China has done”.
China starting January 2018 no longer accepts plastic scraps and other waste imports “to protect China’s environmental interests and people’s health” as emphasized by their Ministry of Environmental Protection in a notification to the World Trade Organization.