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| Stop using plastic bags, consumers told |
By ELLALYN DE VERA
July 3, 2010, 1:03pm
Green advocates urged consumers in a busy public market in Quezon City to stop using plastic bags to reduce waste generation and lessen associated ecological hazards, such as climate and marine pollution.
In a creative protest Saturday, Ecological Waste Coalition (EcoWaste) and Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) led campaigners who wore plastic bags over their heads with the message “Plastik: Hindi Walastik!” to catch the attention of consumers at the Commonwealth Market.
The event is in celebration of this year’s International Plastic Bags-Free Day (IPBFD).
Organized by the Catalan Foundation for Waste Prevention and Responsible Consumption, Amigos de la Tierra, Ecologistas de Catalunya and GAIA, the 2010 IPBFD seeks to raise public awareness on the problems with the overconsumption of plastic bags and other disposables and the urgency of adopting ecological values and lifestyle choices.
“Plastic bags symbolize our penchant for convenient and disposable stuff as we recklessly embrace throw-away culture. Through our action, we ask consumers to rethink their addiction to plastic bags and put an end to the ecological misery caused by wasteful consumption,” said Gigie Cruz of GAIA, one of the organizers of the 2O1O IPBFD.
“By cutting our use of plastic bags and other non-environmentally sound packaging, we significantly reduce our waste generation and lessen associated ecological hazards such as climate and marine pollution from happening,” she added.
According to Sonia Mendoza of the Mother Earth Foundation and EcoWaste’s Task Force on Plastics, “while national data on per capita consumption and disposal of plastic bags are not readily available, there is no lack of evidence of plastic bags ending up littering streets, parks, dumpsites, rivers, seas and even the sky.”
“The onset of the rainy season should compel us into having second thoughts about our unchecked use and disposal of plastic bags. We can help prevent floods by saying no to plastic bags and using reusable bags and containers. Indeed we can save Mother Earth one bag at a time,” Miss Philippines Earth 2010 Kris Psyche Resus said.
Based on the United States-based 5 Gyres, a global research on plastic pollution in the marine environment, only five percent of the plastics produced are recovered, 50 percent are buried in landfills, some are remanufactured into durable goods and the rest are “unaccounted for” or lost in the environment and ultimately into the oceans.
The groups have also identified practical actions that consumer, business and government sectors can do to eradicate the consumption of plastic bags.
“At the personal level, ‘bring your own bayong” (BYOB) or other reusable bags when you shop,” it said.
“Make an environmental statement by cutting and sewing your own reusable bags from rice or flour sacks, old jeans, fabric scraps and other used materials. Spread the BYOB culture to your family, neighborhood and workplace,” it added.
At the business level, the groups urged supermarkets and shops to introduce their own reusable bags made of recycled and locally-sourced materials and promote and provide attractive incentives to inspire consumers to bring their own bags or containers, such as rebates or price cuts.
At the government level, it pushed the national and local authorities to ban single-use plastic bags.
“In the meantime, forbid their use for non-essential purposes (e.g., fiesta buntings and ornaments). Make manufacturers responsible for the environmentally-sound recovery of used plastic bags and packaging materials, including bearing the cost of plastic pollution and mitigation,” it said.
The groups cited the numerous benefits of taking decisive action against plastic bags such as, preventing storm drains and waterways from getting clogged and causing street flooding; protecting coral reefs and all marine animals from plastic entanglement and digestive blockages; reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, persistent organic pollutants and other harmful chemicals linked with the production, transportation, consumption and disposal of plastic bags; and reversing the “plasticization” of our lifestyle with the increased promotion and adoption of eco-friendly and non-toxic alternatives.
Citing data from the Ocean Conservancy’s 2010 annual report entitled “Trash Travels,” the organizers reveal that plastic bags rank first as the most littered items in Philippine seas at 300,715 pieces, followed by food wrappers and containers at 110,930, straws and stirrers 40,280, paper bags 32,026 and clothing and shoes 30,223.
A discards survey conducted in 2006 by EcoWaste and Greenpeace found synthetic plastic materials comprising 76 percent of the floating trash in Manila Bay, with plastic bags constituting 51 percent.
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