Seattle, WA. December 4th, 2020. Environmental Groups are calling a secret agreement signed between Canada and the US on October 26th of this year, illegal, unacceptable and dangerous. In a letter sent to Canadian Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson on December 2, 2020, Canadian and international environmental organizations call on the Minister to make the secret agreement public and expressed their serious concerns that the agreement violates the new Basel Convention amendments on plastic wastes, which become international law on January 1, 2021 and which the Canadian government claimed they supported and had promised to ratify but has not yet done so.

The United States is one of very few countries that is not a member of the Basel Convention and never agreed with the Basel Convention's decision to better control the export of mixed and contaminated plastic wastes to prevent contamination of the marine environment as well as the territories of developing countries. Canada however did agree but appears now to be ready to renege on the agreement when it comes to trade with the United States. The secret Canada/US deal is designed to simply ignore the new Basel Plastic Waste controls for trade between the two countries.

"The behavior of the United States in this shameful arrangement can be sadly expected, but as they are not part of the Basel Convention it is not illegal for them," said Basel Action Network (BAN) Director Jim Puckett. "Canada on the other hand is violating their obligations under the Convention with this deal, in a blatant and shocking way."

BAN is especially concerned as this will allow Canadian waste to flow into the US where it will be simply exported to sub-standard, highly polluting facilities and dumpsites in Asia or Africa.