The federal government has privately sanctioned several Canadian recycling companies for sending illegal, unsorted household waste to developing countries, but has kept the list of those caught secret from the public for violating environmental and international laws.
A Fifth Estate / Enquête investigation found that at least 123 shipping containers have been returned to Canada in the past five years after foreign authorities discovered numerous violations of international waste export regulations aimed at stopping Western countries from dumping their waste. Developing countries.
“We can’t make these names public,” Environment Minister Stephen Gilbo told The Fifth Estate.
Gilbo said the only time the names will be made public is when a company or CEO is charged under Canadian Environmental Law.
- WATCH “Lure and Switch: The Dirty Secrets of Recycling”, a special edition of The Fifth Estate, on Wednesday at 21:00 on CBC-TV or CBC Gem
Environment Canada told The Fifth Estate / Enquête that it has issued nine warning letters over the past five years against companies involved in the transportation of illegal waste.
During that time, there were also six fines totaling less than $ 9,000 against four companies and two individuals.
According to the regulationsenvironmental officials can avoid charging if they decide that the fine or warning is “sufficient and appropriate” to turn to a company that has broken the law.
Environment Minister Stephen Gilbo says he cannot reveal the names of the companies his department has sanctioned for illegal waste exports. (CBC)
Gilbo said that because his employees only imposed fines, he agreed with Environment Canada’s decision not to publish the names.
“We can impose fines, but with regard to the public disclosure of this information, there is still a provision in our legal system that you are innocent until proven guilty by a court,” Gilbo said.
Illegal waste “will continue” without policy change: inspector
Mark De Strouper, a Belgian port inspector, told Enquête and The Fifth Estate that he had repeatedly caught recyclables containing illegal Canadian rubbish during his 25-year career. De Strooper inspected shipping containers passing through the port of Antwerp on their way to their final destinations in India and other Asian countries.
European port inspector Mark De Strouper is digging in a paper recycling bin, but it is actually mixed with plastic and metal waste. De Strouper inspected many Canadian shipments of waste passing through Belgium and warned Canadian authorities when he found violations. (Mathieu Mark)
Recently in January, he seized five illegal shipments of recycling from Canada, which were destined for developing countries.
De Strouper said he believes Canadian companies send their garbage to developing countries because it may be cheaper to send it abroad than to recycle recycled paper and plastic at home.
For this reason, De Strooper said governments need to be more vigilant in preventing the export of contaminated products for recycling.
In Belgium, inspectors test recycling bales to measure the amount of non-recyclable waste they contain. This was far more than allowed, according to the inspector. (Mathieu Mark)
“I do not know how [Canadian authorities] perform these checks or how many checks they make on these items. “I still see this waste coming to the port of Antwerp,” De Strouper said.
“If Canada does not change this policy or its habits around it, it will continue.”
There is no responsibility without names, says a lawyer
Environmental lawyer Sabaa Khan said Canadians have a right to know the names of companies sanctioned by the federal government – and that removing secrecy about illegal shipments could help prevent future violations.
“If there is no transparency, there can be no responsibility. This is the most frustrating part, “said Khan, who is working on the issue with the David Suzuki Foundation.
“The Canadian government has decided not to monitor plastic waste very closely.”
Sabaa Khan is an environmental lawyer with the David Suzuki Foundation, which specializes in international waste supply chains. (CBC)
Under Canadian law, companies are allowed to export certain recyclable materials such as paper or metals for recycling. But DeStrooper and others have found that too often paper recycling shipments, for example, are mixed with household waste or non-recyclable plastic.
As for these illegal shipments from Canada, recently seized in Belgium, De Strouper said the manifestos said the garbage came from companies operating in Montreal, Toronto and Calgary.
“I just feel kind of cheated.”
For young conservationists and recyclers like sisters Sadie and Willa Wepond in Calgary, the lack of transparency helps protect companies and prevents Canadians from addressing the issue in public.
“If people knew it was happening and there was more transparency, then I think a real change could happen,” said Sadie, 16.
“Personally, I feel kind of deceived,” said 14-year-old Willa. “So why are these videos showing us at school about what needs to happen after you recycle something, and that’s just a myth?”
Willa Wiepond, left, and Sadie Wiepond, right, are sisters and environmentalists. Teenagers have long recycled their household waste as a way to reduce their footprint on the environment. (Jamie Ross / WestRock Images / CBC)
Through confidential sources, the Enquête was able to identify the source of some of the containers that Belgian authorities say were smuggled abroad. The paper waste comes from one of Montreal’s recycling centers, run by Ricova International. Inspectors say the paper recycling shipment to India contains too much additional plastic and other waste.
Rikova disputes the findings of the Belgian inspector and said that non-paper waste in the shipment is not unusual.
“Stop exporting your plastic waste”
Young activists and governments around the world are pushing for a total ban on Western waste exports to developing countries.
In Indonesia, 14-year-old conservationist Nina Azahra has garnered a large number of followers on social media after trying to persuade Western countries to stop sending waste to her country.
Representatives of several countries, including Germany, Australia and the Netherlands, met with it and promised to change their export policy.
Since 2020, Nina has sent two letters to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Why are you sending your garbage to our country? You have to take care of your garbage in your own country,” she wrote.
Nina Azzara reads her letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The 14-year-old activist wants Canada to stop all waste exports to Indonesia. (WatchDoc / CBC)
Trudeau’s office responded to Nina in January, nearly two years after her first letter, and said they had forwarded her letter to the environment minister.
However, Gilbo has not yet responded.
“They know that recycling is difficult, difficult and expensive. Maybe they still don’t want to leave Indonesia. They still want Indonesia to be a landfill for their waste,” Nina told The Fifth Estate.
“I really want you to stop – stop exporting your plastic waste to Indonesia. Just stop. “
Politicians backed the ban
Scott Davidson, a conservative member of parliament from York-Simco, north of Toronto, is pushing for a ban on Canadian non-recyclable plastic waste.
“Canada needs to take responsibility,” Davidson said. “We just can’t throw our garbage over our neighbors’ fence and say, ‘Don’t see each other, don’t see each other.'”
Last year, his bill banning the export of non-recyclable plastic waste received widespread support from opposition parties. But the Liberals would not support it.
“I hate being a party member, but sometimes you have to be. All this is talk, no action. The Liberals declare that they are the party of the environment, “Davidson said.
“It’s as if the Conservatives didn’t want the environment to win, so we won’t vote on this bill.
Scott Davidson is the Conservative MP for York-Simco, riding in Ontario. He proposed Bill C-204 to prevent the export of non-recyclable plastic waste. (CBC)
Gilbo told The Fifth Estate that he disagreed with Davidson’s description of why the Liberals voted against his bill. He said the government was focusing on banning certain types of disposable plastics to reduce the amount of plastic that Canada produces in general.
“We are banning plastics in Canada,” Gilbo said. “This idea that because we did not vote in favor of this bill, we are not – we do not want to deal with the problem, is simply not true.”
WATCH MP Scott Davidson presents his plastic bill to Parliament from Lake Simco:
The Conservative MP addresses the House of Commons while standing in a lake
York-Simcoe MP Scott Davidson gave his statement 60 seconds before QP while standing in Lake Simcoe. Davidson called on the liberal government to protect the lake. 1:24
Despite the opposition of the Liberals, Bill C-204 was passed in the House of Commons. However, he died in the Senate along with other proposed legislation since the 2021 election was called.
“Unfortunately, I think the world’s oceans will be affected by this delay now,” Davidson said.
He resubmitted his bill for this parliamentary session and hopes to pass both chambers this time.
Canada is avoiding an international promise to halt exports
Khan, an environmental lawyer, said Canada had faced repeated requests from other countries to stop shipping and join international agreements, but delayed that.
“We live in one of the most …
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