From top source of ocean wastes, PH must lead in zero waste – The Manila Times

MARCH 30 is the first annual United Nations International Day of Zero Waste. Unlike the International Zero Waste Month celebrated in the Philippines and other Asian countries last January and which highlights the need to reduce plastic use and plastic waste, the International Day of Zero Waste should be seen in the broader context of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The day is expected to raise awareness and spur action that addresses “all forms of waste, including food loss and waste, natural resource extraction and electronic waste,” according to the International Day of Zero Waste website. We need to take better care of our natural resources, our environment, minimize pollution, in order to ensure a decent quality of life for future generations, for all people and not just a few.

Aside from shining attention on sustainable “zero waste” lifestyles in general, the Day of Zero Waste is also a reminder of the much anticipated Global Plastics Treaty, expected to be ready by next year. A year has passed since the UN Environment Assembly voted to work toward such a legally binding instrument. The treaty will start a global process of pushing back plastic production. From a matter of stopping “ocean plastic waste” or “plastic waste leakage,” the treaty will address plastic production, the source of the problem.

Do I sound like a broken record? Well, plastic pollution is a never-ending issue and concern. Last February 17, online news site Visual Capitalist published an image and a short article on ocean plastic pollution. The data was lifted from a 2021 report titled “More than 1,000 rivers account for 80 percent of global riverine plastic emissions into the ocean,” by Lourens J. J. Meijer and colleagues. It may be recalled that this report identified the Philippines as the world’s undisputed No. 1 source of ocean plastic waste. An estimated 35 percent of discarded plastic that finds its way into the ocean emanates from 466 rivers in the Philippines. The authors partly attributed this to the fact that the Philippines — and some of the other top polluting nations — has a “relatively small land surface area compared to the length of [its] coastline.”

Commenting on Visual Capitalist’s story — visualized with an “ocean plastic waste pie” — a Danish Twitter user noted that while he is sorting his garbage, people in Asia are dumping tons of plastic into the oceans. Others, however, pointed out that the Global North is exporting plastic (and other types of) waste to developing countries. How much of waste that ends up in the oceans might have originated in the north? they asked. The matter of waste trade was barely touched in Visual Capitalist’s very short article accompanying the numbers. An official of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Asia Pacific told me that the article failed to appreciate some other facts about plastic waste. For instance, according to a Break Free From Plastics 2022 brand audit of plastic waste, Coca-Cola remains the No. 1 source of plastic waste in the Philippines. Coca-Cola is a partner of Ocean Cleanup whose “supporters… made the realization of [the 2021] study possible” (Meijer et al.). The Ocean Cleanup, in its own words, “develop[s] and scale[s] technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic” (www.theoceancleanup.com).

This focus on technologies reminded me of the 2015 report “Stemming the Tide.” The report, published by the Ocean Conservancy and the McKinsey Center for Business and Environment, identified China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines as heavy emitters of plastics into the ocean, accounting for up to 65 percent of all of what the report called “plastic-waste leakage.” The report went on to recommend technological solutions, primary among them waste-to-energy incineration.

The Ocean Conservancy, after some soul searching, in July 2022 officially retracted the report and apologized for its failure to appreciate the problem of global plastic waste pollution in a wider perspective.

The plastic and other toxic — yes, plastic is toxic — waste that ends up in the ocean is a real problem. It kills. It must be removed. Removing trash from the ocean is a good deed. But it isn’t enough. Neither is so-called proper disposal. The source of the problem is the plastic itself. Our love affair with this versatile and in-so-many-ways useful material is also suicidal. From production to disposal, plastic pollutes. Visual Capitalist’s article depicting the Philippines as the world’s No. 1 source of ocean plastic may not have told the whole story, but it has reminded us that we are still consuming far too much plastic and it’s both unhealthy and unsustainable.