Philippines Recalls Diplomats as Canada’s Deadline to Take Back Its Trash Expires

Filipino environmental activists wear a mock container vans filled with garbage to symbolize the 50 containers of waste that were shipped from Canada to the Philippines two years ago, at the Canadian embassy in Makati, south of Manila, Philippines, on May 7, 2015. Aaron Favila/The Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines is recalling its ambassador and consuls in Canada over Ottawa’s failure to comply with a deadline to take back truckloads of garbage that Filipino officials say were illegally shipped to the Philippines years ago, officials said Thursday.

Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. tweeted that the Philippines “shall maintain a diminished diplomatic presence in Canada until its garbage is ship bound there.” The move comes a week after Canada agreed to pay the full cost of shipping back its 69 shipping containers of garbage that have been sitting in two ports in the Philippines for nearly six years.