The Philippines are returning trash to Canada, after a long-standing dispute over the export of waste, which affected the relations between the two countries, Reuters reported. 

According to the source, the 69 containers were loaded overnight onto a vessel at the port of Subic, northwest of Manila, and left on Friday for a month-long journey to the Canadian city of Vancouver.

In 2016, a Philippine court declared illegal the importation of 2,400 tons of Canadian trash.

According to Canada, the trash exported to the Philippines from 2013 to 2014 was a private commercial transaction made without the consent of the government.

“The government of Canada is taking all the necessary measures to ensure safe and environmentally sound transport, handling and disposal of the waste in Canada,” Mark Johnson, spokesman for Canada’s environment and climate change ministry, said in an email statement.