Ottawa (CNN) The Philippines has recalled its ambassador to Canada in an escalating row after Ottawa missed a deadline and failed to reclaim garbage shipped to Manila about six years ago, the country's presidential spokesperson said.

More than 100 containers filled with household waste believed to be recyclable plastic arrived in the Port of Manila between 2013-2014; it was actually nonrecyclable plastic, household waste, and diapers, the Philipines News Agency reported.

Private Canadian company Chronic Inc. and its Philippine-based consignees transported 103 container vans of waste from Canada to the Philippines, according to the legal non-profit Pacific Centre for Environmental Law and Litigation (CELL).

In an April assessment, CELL said that Canada had violated the Basel Convention -- an international treaty designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations -- during those years.

"The container vans were falsely declared to contain homogenous plastic scrap material when in fact these shipments contained heterogenous waste including baled household garbage," CELL said.

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