Wanted: A take-back system for plastic garbage
The meaningful observance of International Plastic Bag-Free Day at the Quezon Memorial Circle last week ended with mountainous piles of plastic garbage.
Green groups, who made a huge plastic bag chain around the QC landmark, were visibly irked by the humongous piles of plastic that they collected.
But their collective efforts did not go to waste.
“Now we have a significant stockpile of used plastic bags at our office and it gives us mixed feelings,” laments Roy Alvarez, president, EcoWaste Coalition. “We are sad that there’s just way too much of it, and at the same time, we are glad that we diverted them from waterways, landfills, cement kilns, and incinerators. But the question is: Now what?”
Here’s what we can do, so strongly suggests campaigner Paeng Lopez of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA): “Our predicament actually emphasizes the pressing need to put in place a proper take-back mechanism where producers are required to recover the plastic discards. This chain, made of plastic bags from recognizable establishments, represents but a tiny fraction of the world’s plastic problem and highlights our very own here at home. If merely hundreds of people here today can enclose the entire Quezon Memorial Circle with plastic bags, imagine what 95.8 million Filipinos do to our waterways, marine life, and climate with our continued consumption of plastic bags.”
EcoWaste Coalition, Greenpeace, and GAIA conducted a discards survey in 2006 and 2010 and found plastic bags to comprise 51.4 and 27.7 percent, respectively, of the flotsam in Manila Bay. Plastics in general, including plastic bags, made up 76.9 and 75.55 percent, respectively, of the assorted floating garbage.
Can you imagine that? Now, picture this: Annually, the world produces 200 million tons of plastic. If the plastic bags have an average weight of 32.5g and size of 900cm2 , these would be enough to encircle the earth more than 41,000 times.
On top of phasing out both regular and degradable plastic bags, promoting organic reusable bags, and taxing plastic bags, a take-back system should be incorporated into a national law banning plastic bags that the green groups are urging Congress to enact.
Zeroing in on the mounting plastic pollution problem throughout the country were more than 300 participants from almost 50 groups coming from Cavite, Nueva Ecija, and Rizal. Leading the green-minded participants, who included NGOs (non-government organizations), LGUs (local government units), students, church-based groups, senior citizens, bike enthusiasts, beauty queens, were Miss Earth Philippines 2011 Athena Mae Imperial and her court, MMDA vice chairman Alex Cabanilla, Muntinlupa City councilor Raul Corro, and lawyer Agnes Baylen from the Office of Representative Lani Mercado-Revilla.
In a statement she sent, Rep. Revilla expressed her support in bringing about a plastic-free Philippines. She shared that when she took part in the 25th International Coastal Clean-Up last year, she knew it wasn’t a waste of time as she saw the “proliferation of plastic bags and other products along the Bacoor Bay coast and how these plastic products destroyed the ecological environment in Bacoor Bay.”
Aside from avidly pushing for a comprehensive plastic bag law, the green groups also cited LGUs who have initiated the phaseout and ban of plastic bags in their jurisdictions (more than 10 cities and municipalities, with about 10 more following suit).
Muntinlupa Mayor Aldrin San Pedro happily attributes the welcome absence of floods in his city during the recent typhoon Falcon to the plastic ban in the city — with less trash along the waterways, thus ensuring that rainwater would leave the city’s streets as soon as possible and easing the government’s headaches.
In one powerful voice, the green groups called for the enactment of a law that would: phase out plastic bags (regular and degradable), promote organic reusable bags, espouse take-back mechanisms and recycling, support LGUs in their waste management initiatives, impose environmental levy on plastic bags, and for accountability purposes, label so-called “degradable” plastic bags to show name of manufacturer, manufacturing date, and the degradation period of the bag.
The group also called the public’s attention to the proliferation of so-called “biodegradable” plastics, and shared the findings of Loughborough University and DEFRA-UK which revealed that while these materials may degrade in two to five years, their biodegradability remains unclear.
“Degradable plastic bags merely perpetuate a ‘throw-away’ and ‘dispose-as-usual’ mentality as it gives the wrong impression that discarding them the habitual way is okay since they degrade anyway,” points out Greenpeace campaigner Beau Baconguis. “This raises at least two problems: littering and continued production of plastic waste.”
“The trick is simply not to get duped into believing that degradable plastic bag is the solution. There’s a reason the item is called such — even if it degrades, it remains to be plastic,” warns Mother Earth Foundation president Froilan Grate. “If at all, it is only a stop-gap or temporary measure that we also have to do away with on our way back to using organic reusable bags.”
Green groups who participated in the International Plastic Bag-Free Day activity included Alaga Lahat, Ban Toxics, BERDE, Buklod Tao, Cavite Green Coalition, Citizens’ Organization Concerned with Advocating for Philippine Environmental Sustainability, Cycling Advocates, Diocese of Caloocan-Ecology Ministry, EcoWaste Coalition, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Greenpeace, Health Care Without Harm, Krusada sa Kalikasan, Malayang Tinig ng mga Kababaihan sa Komunidad, Miss Earth Foundation, Miriam PEACE, Mother Earth Foundation, November 17 Movement, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement, Sanib Lakas ng mga Aktibong Lingkod ng Inang Kalikasan, Sang-at Uli Mountaineering Society, Sagip Pasig Movement, Samahang Pagkakaisa ng mga Tindero sa Talipapa, Sarilaya, and Zero Waste Philippines.
For these committed, zealous souls, ain’t no mountain of garbage high enough.
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