The recurring problem of hazardous materials entering the Philippines has resurfaced, with more than 20 containers of radioactive zinc stranded in Manila Bay for months before being brought ashore to a “safe place.”

According to Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) Director Carlo Arcilla, 23 containers arrived in Manila aboard the MV Hansa Augsburg in late September after Indonesian authorities “rejected and re-exported” them following the discovery of traces of radioactive Caesium-137.

Jakarta turned the shipment away after it tightened controls on scrap iron and steel imports amid a scandal over the alleged radioactive contamination of food products.

A source with knowledge of the situation said the containers were offloaded at the Manila port on Sunday beginning at 10:27 a.m.

Arcilla, who called the issue a “solvable problem” in October, said the zinc was awaiting a medium-term solution, with storage at the Subic Bay military facility a likely option.

During the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte, a hazardous waste shipment in dozens of shipping containers from Canada entered the Philippines between 2013 and 2014, misdeclared as recyclable materials.

The containers were found to contain household waste, soiled plastics, and other hazardous refuse. 

The shipment languished in local ports for years, becoming a symbol of regulatory failure and environmental injustice.

Duterte repeatedly denounced the incident, framing it as an affront to national sovereignty, and at one point threatened diplomatic retaliation. After prolonged pressure, the bulk of the waste was eventually shipped back to Canada in 2019.

That episode cast a long shadow over subsequent debates on waste imports, prompting calls for the stronger enforcement of environmental laws and stricter compliance with international agreements governing transboundary waste movement.

Radioactive industrial byproduct 

Unlike the Duterte-era cases, the material recently found was not ordinary garbage but an industrial byproduct with traces of radioactive contamination, raising concerns about radiation exposure, storage, and long-term disposal. 

Authorities kept the containers offshore while assessing the risks and searching for an appropriate facility, then brought them ashore to what officials described as a “safe place” for temporary storage.

Arcilla declined to say where the containers are currently, but another official who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were in a temporary holding area just outside Metro Manila.

“(The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority) is open to the idea because they have ammunition bunkers there from World War 2. I’ve seen the bunkers; they are in good shape,” Arcilla said, stressing that the contamination levels were low.

“It’s weakly contaminated, because one meter (three feet) away from the container, the radiation becomes background,” he said, adding that the ship’s crew had tested negative for radiation.

The final solution will see the shipment sealed in a purpose-built underground containment facility, he said.

Arcilla added that China’s Cosco Shipping Lines, the ship’s operator, had been victimized by what he called an “irrational fear of radiation” and by Manila’s failure to find a solution.

“The shipping company took it into their own hands to negotiate because they were losing millions,” he said.

Cosco did not immediately respond to questions about the shipment.

Neither the Philippines nor Indonesia has disclosed the radiation levels in the containers.

The zinc dust, a byproduct of steel production, was exported to Indonesia by Zannwann International Trading Corp. after being sourced from local recycler Steel Asia, Arcilla had said in October.

The recycler temporarily suspended operations at its plant but slammed the PNRI’s conclusions as “baseless and unscientific,” arguing that multiple companies had supplied zinc dust to Zannwann.

Calls to both companies were not immediately returned on Wednesday.

Greenpeace Philippines campaigner Jefferson Chua has warned that even low levels of Caesium-137 exposure carry “long-term cancer risks and can cause lasting environmental contamination.”

The radioactive isotope, which is created through nuclear reaction, is used in a variety of industrial, medical, and research applications.