Plastic is now one of the country’s top pollutants of canals, rivers, and other waterways. Unfortunately, most of these buoyant materials end up in the open seas.
In a report released a few years ago, the Ocean Conservancy singled out the Philippines as one of five countries from where majority of plastics originates. Also on the list were China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
“As rapidly developing economies, these countries are now passing through a typical stage of economic growth as consumer demand for disposable products grows more rapidly than the waste management infrastructure,” the report said.
The word plastic is derived from the Greek plastikos, which means “capable of being shaped or molded.” It refers to their malleability or plasticity during manufacture, which allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into a variety of shapes – such as films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, and much more.
Various plastics are used in the manufacture of each consumer item. For fibers and textiles, polyester (PES) is used while carbonated drinks bottles, peanut butter jars, plastic film, and microwaveable packaging, the material used is polyethylene terephthalate (PET). High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is used for detergent bottles, milk jugs, and molded plastic cases.
When manufacturing plumbing pipes and guttering, shower curtains, window frames, and flooring, polyvinyl chloride (PCV) is used while it is polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) for food packaging. Outdoor furniture, siding, floor tiles, shower curtains, and clamshell packaging come from low-density polyethylene (LDPE).
Bottle caps, drinking straws, yogurt containers, appliances, car fenders (bumpers), and plastic pressure pipe systems are made of polypropylene (PP). Packaging foam, food containers, plastic tableware, disposable cups, plates, cutlery, and compact discs and cassette boxes come from polystyrene (PS).
High impact polystyrene (HIPS) is made for refrigerator liners, food packaging, and vending cups. Fibers, toothbrush bristles, tubing, fishing line, and low strength machine parts (like under-the-hood car engine parts or gun frames) are made from polyamides (PA) or popularly known as nylons.
If you’re wondering what those electronic equipment cases (e.g., computer monitors, printers, keyboards) and drainage pipe are made of, it’s acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Eyeglasses, riot shields, security windows, traffic lights, and lenses are made of polycarbonate (PC).
Polyurethanes (PU) is currently the sixth most commonly used plastic material. It is used in cars such as cushioning foams, thermal insulation foams, surface coatings, and in printing rollers.
These days, plastics are part of Filipinos’ daily life, according to Juvinia P. Serafin, senior environmental management specialist of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), a line agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Plastics come in the form of credit cards, food containers and packages, utensils, sachet packs, kitchen wares, toys, and furniture.
But the most popular of them all is plastic bags. “Since they were introduced in the 1970s, plastic bags have infiltrated our lives,” wrote Caroline Williams in New Scientist. “Globally, we carry home between 500 billion and a trillion every year – about 150 bags for every person on earth, or, to put it another way, a million every minute and rising.”
Aside from plastic bags, other single-use plastics include straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles and most food packaging materials. The country’s so-called “sachet economy” has also contributed to the proliferation of plastics. Products sold in single-use sachets include instant coffee, shampoo, cooking oil, food seasoning and toothpaste. Once they’re used, they are just thrown away.
But there’s a good news. The Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has developed a biodegradable substitute to synthetic plastics. It comes in the form of biodegradable polymer, described as “a more environment-friendly alternative.”
“Synthetic plastics are petrochemical-based, which means that they are not easily degraded and would take almost a decade to decompose,” explained Dr. Marissa A. Paglicawan, supervising science research specialist at ITDI. “This prompted lawmakers and plastic makers worldwide to identify and develop durable biodegradable bio-based alternatives.”
But the hitch is: not all synthetic plastics can be replaced with biodegradable polymer. Those single use plastics are among them. Another problem: cost of biodegradable polymer is slightly higher than the synthetic plastic.
But still, Paglicawan believes the biodegradable substitute to synthetic plastics offers prospect for plastic manufacturers.
“The small size of industry players in the area of biodegradable polymer signals an opportunity for those who want to venture into the manufacturing of plastics,” Dr. Paglicawan wrote in S&T Post. “Plastic manufacturers can easily shift to this type of technology because there are no required investment for pre-processing equipment and skilled orkers. They can still use their existing equipment of extrusion and face pelletizer machine.”
Currently, there is still no one producing biodegradable thermoplastic polymer in the country. But there is a local distributor of Polylactic Acid, a synthetic biodegradable polymer, according to Dr. Paglicawan.
“Although most plastics are recyclable, their disposal becomes a problem due to the lack of landfill area,” she said. “A single-use packaging always ends up in a landfill, a situation which prompted the government to formulate 13 House Bills and Senate Bills on the regulation and phasing out of plastic bags and other plastic packaging materials.”
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu agrees. “Plastic, particularly those for single-use packaging, has greatly contributed to the degradation of the environment,” he said. “Plastic pollution continues to poison our oceans and injure marine life. When not properly disposed, they clog waterways and cause flooding.”
Plastics likewise threaten marine wildlife species. Last August 7, a dead 3.5-meter whale shark washed ashore near Tagum City, Davao del Norte. “It died of ingested toxic waste,” said Darrell Blatchley, owner of D’Bone Collector Museum in Davao City.
Blatchley and another Filipino science researcher performed a necropsy examination of the marine animal that found plastic cups and sandwich bags inside the animal’s stomach and multiple candy wrappers blocking its gills.
“I am angry,” said Blatchley who has performed necropsies on 60 whales and dolphins, countless turtles and megamouth sharks in recent years. “Nothing has changed. Man causes the death of these marine animals.”
Another concern: microplastics, which are generally less than 5 millimeters in diameter. “(These) can harm juvenile fish which can ultimately harm fish stock,” Serafin said.
In addition, microplastics can provide the medium for the bioaccumulation of potentially toxic pollutants in the food chain. “Plastic particles can absorb industrial and agricultural pollutants causing damage to fish organs,” said Serafin.
Environmentalists caution against burning those plastics to get rid of them completely. Scientists say that chlorine-based plastics, when incinerated, contribute to the formation of dioxins, a poisonous waste that forms when chlorine is exposed to extreme heat.
“Dioxins are considered highly toxic and are implicated in weakening the immune system, affecting fetal development and causing a skin disorder called chloracne,” wrote Chynthia P. Shea, a former staff member of the Worldwatch Institute.
Along with reducing unnecessary plastic consumption, Worldwatch says that finding more environmentally friendly packaging alternatives, and improving product and packaging design to use less plastic, many challenges associated with plastics could be addressed by improving management of the material across its life cycle.
“Businesses and consumers could increase their participation in collection in order to move plastic waste toward a recovery supply chain, and companies could switch to greater use of recycled plastics,” Worldwatch suggests. “Governments must regulate the plastic supply chain to encourage and monitor recycling.”
