In October 2021, a Belgian environmental inspector opened a container at the port of Antwerp that, according to its manifest, was supposed to contain bales of mixed paper waste from Canada.
It was one of 20 containers from the Saint-Michel recycling centre in Montreal that were destined for India.
“Oh it really stinks!” said Marc de Strooper, taken aback by the stench of garbage.
As he looked closer, de Strooper found a mess of broken glass, old clothes, metal debris, broken toys and used medical masks. He also saw paper bales that contained a large quantity of difficult-to-recycle plastic bags.
“Canada is
