Philippine president to ‘declare war’ on Canada in waste dispute

The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has said he is ready to “declare war” against Canada over scores of containers holding Canadian household rubbish and electronic waste that have been sitting in his country’s ports for more than six years.

More than 100 containers of waste were shipped in batches from Canada to the Philippines in 2013 and 2014. Most of the containers remain in local ports, sparking protests from environmental activists. Philippine officials say they were falsely declared by a private firm as recyclable plastic scraps and have asked Canada to take the rubbish back.