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[av_heading heading=’Plastic will choke oceans by 2050 – Loren’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ
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Monday, January 23, 2017
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A father and his son row their makeshift raft through a sea of garbage and plastic in Manila. AFP
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MANILA – The oceans are expected to have more plastic than fish by 2050.
A 2016 report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation titled “The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the Future of Plastics,” there is an increasing global production of plastic.
Plastic production was 20 times higher in 2014 (311 million tonnes) than in 1964 (15 million tonnes), the study claimed.
In light of the recent statistics, Sen. Loren Legarda, an environmental advocate, is seeking to regulate plastic bags and its usage to reduce marine degradation.
“Plastic bags are ubiquitous components of the world’s consumer culture. These non-biodegradable plastic bags symbolize the throwaway culture that we have developed,” Legarda said.
“We cannot go business as usual as it pollutes our oceans and water, and even the air when burned,” she added.
The Ocean Conservancy in 2015 listed the Philippines along with China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam as top contributors of plastic pollution in oceans.
These countries were accounted for as much as 60 percent of the plastic waste that enters the world’s seas, it said.
Legarda, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, suggested the Filipinos to use native reusable bags made of organic and recycled for carrying items or products.
Her Senate Bill No. (SBN) 430, or the “Plastic Bag Regulation Act” prohibits business establishments to provide consumers with plastic bags.
Those who purchase fresh fish, meat and poultry products shall be exempted from the prohibitions, the measure said.
Legarda said that SBN 430 shall also address the concerns of affected employees and workers of the plastic industry.
The Department of Trade and Industry, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and the Department of Labor and Employment will develop programs for alternative livelihood opportunities for them, she said.
“Citizens should make conscious efforts to change daily routine and practices to produce a positive impact on our environment. Companies must change their economic mindset, wasteful production processes and packaging methods—from the use of seemingly cost-effective plastic bags into investing in long-term reusable and recyclable bags which are more sustainable in the long run,” Legarda said./PN
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