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184 suspected illegal e-waste containers from United States set to arrive in the Philippines – EnviroNews
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The Basel Action Network (BAN), together with members of the Philippine NGO Environmental Task Force Against Illegal E-Waste Imports to the Philippines (End E-Waste Imports), have sent out a new Operation Can Opener (OCO) alert, identifying 184 shipping containers suspected of containing illegally imported electronic waste, all coming from the United States (US).
The containers are scheduled to arrive at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in the Philippines between August 6 and September 30, 2026.
The alert was sent on Wednesday, July 29, to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno and Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Director, Michael Drake Matias, of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the Philippines.
The warning follows a July 22 Bureau of Customs action on three prior containers flagged by BAN. BOC Subic District Collector Geniefelle Lagmay ordered the three suspect containers to remain on board the vessel MV Tokyo Express, citing the Philippines’ obligations under the Basel Convention and Republic Act 6969 to take a precautionary approach.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported on July 25, citing the BOC, that the containers had been declared on shipping documents as “scrap copper.” According to vessel tracking reviewed by BAN, the containers did not remain in Subic and were moved onward the day after the BOC order.
“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, one of the convenors of the Task Force. “But that was three containers. BAN has now identified 184 more suspected containers, and the government must respond with the same urgency and resolve.”
BAN and members of End E-Waste Imports, which includes BAN Toxics, Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, Greenpeace Philippines, and other civil society groups, are calling on the Philippine government to intercept, inspect, and prevent any confirmed illegal e-waste shipments from entering the country. The groups also emphasised the need for enforcement measures to prevent rejected shipments from simply being rerouted to another developing country.
To properly enforce the Basel Convention, the groups say Philippine authorities should detain and inspect the suspect containers to determine whether they indeed contain Basel-controlled e-waste. If the containers are confirmed to contain e-waste from the US, BAN and its Task Force partners maintain that they would be considered illegal traffic under the Basel Convention’s Articles 4(5) and 9.
In addition, following the E-Waste Amendments that entered into force in January 2025, nearly all e-waste – hazardous or not – is controlled under the Convention. The groups outlined this position in a July 15 civil society position paper submitted to DENR, BOC, and other agencies following a July 6 interagency meeting.
Under Article 4(5) of the Convention, Parties such as the Philippines may not permit the import of Basel-controlled waste from a non-Party (such as the US) without a valid Article 11 agreement in place, which would allow such trade but it must provide an equivalent level of environmental protection as the Convention. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the State Department confirmed with BAN that no such agreement exists to allow e-waste exports from the US to the Philippines.
For containers found to contain illegal e-waste, the groups urge the Philippine government to use an existing bilateral agreement, signed in 2001, that covers hazardous waste moving from the Philippines to the US. This way, US authorities will be responsible to ensure that the waste is not re-exported by the original exporters.
“Sending these shipments back informally, container by container, is not enough. Because the US is not a Party to the Basel Convention, too often, the same waste can be simply rerouted to another unsuspecting country,” said Jim Puckett, Founder and Chief of Strategic Direction of BAN. “The existing bilateral arrangement that covers only exports from the Philippines gives the country a lawful path to ensure illegal e-waste is taken back by the US to be responsibly managed and recycled there – what should have been done in the first place.”
The Task Force urges authorities to prevent any new bilateral agreement between the US and the Philippines that would legalize e-waste exports from the US, warning of efforts by US lobbyists pushing for such an agreement. They also raise concerns over the planned US-led Pax Silica Initiative, which will set up an AI Industrial hub in the Philippines, with the processing of critical minerals as one of its core focuses. The groups warn that it might give way to an influx of e-waste from the US to the Philippines, under the framework of critical minerals recovery or “urban mining.”
