The Philippines is one of the world’s worst offenders when it comes to marine plastic pollution. Based on a study by Science Advances in 2021, we are the leading country on the list of top 10 ocean plastic contributors – generating an estimated 356,371 metric tons of plastic waste in our ocean. India is a far second place at 126,513 MT, followed by Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Brazil, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Thailand.
The research suggests that countries with smaller land areas, lengthier coastlines, increased rainfall, and inadequate waste management infrastructures are more prone to having their plastic waste end up in the ocean.
Interestingly, the world’s top ocean plastic producers are not the same as the most plastic waste producing countries. According to the World Population Review, the US ranks first in terms of generating the most plastic waste, producing 34 billion kilograms annually. It is followed by India, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, Germany, the UK, Mexico, and Japan.
If it’s any consolation, that means the Philippines is not the top plastic waste producing country, we are just the most wasteful one as far as plastic waste management is involved.
Most of the developed countries in the list also generate high amounts of plastic waste, but the difference is that they have better waste management infrastructure and plastic recycling facilities in their communities than the middle to low income nations.
Despite our country having been consistently listed among the worst offenders in terms of marine plastic pollution for many years now, it would seem that Filipinos aren’t interested in doing anything about it. Our usage of single use plastics hasn’t changed, along with the way we dispose of it.
Aside from being a wasteful and inefficient sachet-based economy that produces a lot of plastic waste that eventually ends up in the ocean, the way we use plastic bags is also amazing, if you come to think of it.
One example is the carinderia take out or lunch orders that are bought or delivered to the millions of office workers and employees of the country. Aside from every viand having its own plastic bag, rice is also packed in plastic. And then, each of these plastic-packed orders are packed further into another plastic sando bag. Multiply this with the number of take-out orders and the number of work days a year, and that would give us an idea of how much plastic waste the relationship between a carinderia and an employee generates. Add to that the inability of most waste management systems to separate the plastics for recycling or proper disposal, and it is no wonder that a lot of the plastic waste we use ends up littering the planet and/or its oceans.
The other day, when I was buying fruits and vegetables, each vendor I bought from had a different plastic bag for every purchase. I have to refuse the additional plastic and consolidate the bag, which it turns out cannot hold a lot anyway because it was too flimsy, forcing most customers to use multiple plastic bags most of the time anyway. This happens because there is absolutely no incentive for not using plastic, no penalty for using it, and today’s super flimsy plastic bags don’t cost anybody anything.
While there are some commercial establishments that no longer use plastic bags, and some even charge for their paper bags these days, majority are still reliant on plastic, which most of us have become dependent on. To make matter worse, aside from a few lame attempts at banning plastics, local governments have done absolutely nothing about this issue, either on the supply side (bans and taxes) or on the waste management and recycling side.
It is sad that while we don’t produce as much plastic waste as the USA, Filipinos are still responsible for sending the most plastic waste to the oceans. The reason for this is pretty obvious, which can mostly be traced to our apathy and inaction by both the private and public sectors that have done nothing about it for years. Without any effort to reduce plastic production and usage, along with bettering our solid waste management systems and recycling efforts and technologies, we’ve been polluting our land with all sorts of plastic so badly that it is eventually washed out into the ocean.
Our wasteful and destructive plastic dependent society that now tops the world in terms of ocean plastic waste generated cannot be allowed to continue without being challenged. When will our leaders and those who can make a difference step up and change the future of our country that has been wreaking havoc on the planet with all the plastic waste we are throwing into the ocean, without any regard for the rest of humanity?*
