The Basel Action Network (BAN) and the Philippines-based Environmental Task Force Against Illegal E-Waste Imports to the Philippines (End E-Waste Imports) have issued a new Operation Can Opener alert identifying 184 shipping containers, all originating from the United States and suspected of carrying illegal electronic waste.

The containers are scheduled to arrive at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone by 30 September, giving customs and environmental regulators a tight window to intercept them before they are cleared or, worse, move on.

Operation Can Opener is ecology watchdog Basel Action Network’s (BAN) intelligence campaign to flag suspected illegal waste shipments before they reach port. The name is a play on shipping industry slang where intermodal containers are informally called “cans.”

An earlier alert was issued on 29 July to Bureau of Customs (BoC) Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno and Environmental Management Bureau director Michael Drake Matias of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

This followed a 22 July BoC action on three prior containers flagged by BoC Subic District Collector Geniefelle Lagmay, who ordered them held aboard the MV Tokyo Express, citing the Philippines’ obligations under the Basel Convention and Republic Act 6969.

The BoC said the three containers were declared as “scrap copper” on shipping documents but vessel-tracking data reviewed by BAN showed the containers did not stay in Subic. They moved onward the day after the BoC issued a hold order.

Foiled attempt

“We commend the Bureau of Customs for promptly acting on the prior alert and preventing suspected illegal waste trafficking from the US to the Philippines,” said Jam Lorenzo, deputy executive director of BAN Toxics, a task force convener.

“But that was three containers. BAN has now identified 184 more suspected containers, and the government must respond with the same urgency and resolve,” Lorenzo added.

With the first containers having arrived and the full window closing on 30 September, BAN and its task force partners — which include BAN Toxics, Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Greenpeace Philippines, and other civil society groups — have called on the authorities to intercept, inspect, and detain the flagged containers before they could be released or rerouted.

They also pressed for enforcement measures to stop rejected shipments from being redirected to another developing country, a pattern they said the MV Tokyo Express case illustrated.

The groups argued the legal basis for flagging the shipments was clear. If confirmed to contain e-waste from the US, the containers would constitute an illegal traffic under Articles 4(5) and 9 of the Basel Convention.