Groups Urge Government to Tackle Plastic Pollution at Source: Ban Single-Use Plastics
12 March 2021, Quezon City. Consumer advocacy group Laban Konsyumer Inc. and environmental health
group EcoWaste Coalition have jointly urged the government to tackle plastic
pollution at source such as by banning single-use plastics (SUPs).
Through a joint statement to mark this year’s World Consumer
Rights Day (WCRD) on March 15 that has for its theme “Tackling Plastic
Pollution,” the non-profit groups highlighted two policy opportunities that can
catalyze the beneficial shift to sustainable packaging and product delivery
systems in the Philippines.
First is through the enactment of a national legislation
banning SUPs by the 18th Congress, and second is via the issuance of the list
of non-environmentally acceptable products and packaging (NEAP) in accordance with R.A. 9003, or the
Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
“We need a strong policy in the form of a Republic Act that
will provide a general framework, direction and timeline toward phasing out
SUPs on a national scale within a reasonable period,” said Atty. Vic Dimagiba,
President of Laban Konsyumer Inc., a full term active member of Consumers
International, which organizes the annual WCRD to highlight “the power of
consumers and their rights for a fair, safe and sustainable marketplace for
everyone.”
“The adoption of such a law will support and strengthen the
efforts by national government agencies, local government units, industries and
businesses, civil society groups and consumers to address plastic pollution in
an effective and united manner,” he added.
Among the local government units that have adopted
ordinances banning or regulating plastic bags and other SUPs include the cities
of Antipolo, Cagayan de Oro, Caloocan, Bacolod, Baguio, Batangas, Iriga,
Lapu-Lapu, Las Piñas, Makati, Mandaluyong, Manila, Muntinlupa, Parañaque,
Pasay, Pasig, Puerto Princesa, Quezon, San Carlos, San Fernando, Santa Rosa,
Trece Martires and many other cities and municipalities across the archipelago.
For his part, Thony Dizon, Chemical Safety Campaigner of the
EcoWaste Coalition, pointed to the importance of releasing the long overdue
NEAP list, which the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) is
required to do one year after R.A. 9003 took effect in 2001.
“The 20-year delay in identifying and consequently banning
products and packaging materials that are not environmentally acceptable has
sadly led to the massive production of throw-away SUPs that are barely reused
or recycled,” said Dizon, noting the mind-boggling amounts of plastic waste and
their chemical additives that get dumped, incinerated or disposed of in the
oceans.
According to the report “Plastic Waste Inputs from Land into
the Ocean,” the Philippines wastes 6,237,653 kilos of plastic per day, of which
81 percent is mismanaged.
As noted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), “plastic
packaging accounts for nearly half of all plastic waste globally, and much of
it is thrown away within just a few minutes of its first use,” noting that “our
oceans have been used as a dumping ground, choking marine life and transforming
some marine areas into a plastic soup.”
As stated by Helena Leurent, Director General of Consumers
International: “Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing issues facing our
planet. Consumer awareness of the
plastics crisis is growing around the world.
Consumers have a crucial role to shape the marketplace, and we must
support them to mobilize businesses and governments, to ensure sustainable
consumption is accessible to all.”
Reference:
https://www.consumersinternational.org/what-we-do/world-consumer-rights-day/tackling-plastic-pollution-2021/
https://www.unep.org/resources/report/single-use-plastics-roadmap-sustainability
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/768
https://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2001/ra_9003_2001.html
https://ntrc.gov.ph/images/journal/2019/j20190910b1.pdf
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