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Canada to pay full cost of bringing garbage home from Philippines

Click to play video: '‘We will declare war’ against Canada over dumped garbage: Duterte'
‘We will declare war’ against Canada over dumped garbage: Duterte
WATCH: 'We will declare war' against Canada over dumped garbage: Duterte (April. 2019) – Apr 23, 2019

Canada has agreed to pay the full cost of bringing 69 garbage-laden shipping containers back across the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver – but it remains unclear just how much that will be.

READ MORE: Canada makes formal offer to bring home trash that Philippines threatened ‘war’ over

A spokesman for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says the president and his cabinet spoke about the matter Monday evening.

A Global Affairs Canada official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet made public, says Canada has agreed to foot the bill.

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However, the department won’t speculate on how much repatriating the trash will cost, saying only that Environment and Climate Change Canada is working to hire a firm to return the containers to Canada.

WATCH: Canada’s new recycling reality

Click to play video: 'Post-China ban: Canada’s new recycling reality'
Post-China ban: Canada’s new recycling reality

Last month, Duterte gave Canada until May 15 to get the containers out of the port near Manila where they have been rotting for nearly six years.

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The containers arrived in the Philippines labelled as plastics for recycling, but were found to mostly contain trash, triggering a lengthy back-and-forth between the two governments over which of them should deal with the problem.

READ MORE: Philippines’ Duterte suggests dumping garbage on Canada’s ‘beautiful beaches’

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