War on plastic continues

MANILA, Philippines — A report by a nongovernment organization opposed to single-use plastics (SUPs) said that every day, the country produces around “164 million pieces of sachets.”

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternative (GAIA) report “Plastics Exposed” also revealed that each day, 48 million shopping bags and 45.2 million pieces of so-called plastic labo bags are produced.

An ally of GAIA, the EcoWaste Coalition, said, “We are drowning in plastics and dying inch by inch from their toxic releases.” 

Jovito Benosa, Zero Waste Program officer of EcoWaste Coalition, said, “Single-use plastics which are designed for the dump (or for the fire), clearly have no place in an environment designed for perpetual recycling of resources that will truly promote and sustain life and health of this planet’s inhabitants.”

“In view of this, the only way to deal with SUPs is to phase them all out,” he added.

Benosa pointed out that the country has an existing law, the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 or Republic Act 9003, which gives clear mandate to the National Solid Waste Management Commission to schedule a phaseout of non-environmentally acceptable products and packaging.

“The law clearly singles out SUPs and similar products in its definition of non-environmentally acceptable in Section 3 (m): ‘re-usable, biodegradable or compostable, recyclable and not toxic or hazardous to the environment,’” he stressed.

Citing another report, “Plastic & Health: The Hidden Cost of a Plastic Planet,” EcoWaste Coalition said “roughly two-thirds of all plastic ever produced has been released into the environment and remains there in some form – as debris in the oceans, as micro- or nanoparticles in air and agricultural soils, as microfibers in water supplies, or as microparticles in the human body.”

The report explains that once in the environment, plastic “slowly fragments into smaller particles” where they contaminate the air, water and soil, “accumulate in food chains, and release toxic additives or concentrate additional toxic chemicals in the environment, making them bioavailable again…”

To date, two related bills have been filed before the Senate to deal with these issues on SUPs: “An Act Regulating the Use of Plastic Bags, and for Other Purposes,” filed by Sen. Nancy Binay and “An Act Regulating the Manufacturing, Importation and Use of Single-Use Plastic Products, and Providing Penalties, Levies and An Incentives System for Industries, Business Enterprises and Consumers Thereof,” filed by Sen. Francis Pangilinan.