“Every time we use a plastic bag, or a cup or a straw, let us think whether we can avoid it. Every time we go to the beach or diving or island hopping, we should leave the place as beautiful and pristine as we found it. Every time we see somebody throwing trash, we should respectfully educate them.” – World Bank’s Agata E. Pawlowska
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While looking for some environmental stories, I came across a story that was reported by Fox News. Last March 25, the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology reported the discovery of a deceased bottlenose dolphin along the shores of Deep Creek within the Rachel Carson Estuarine Reserve in Beaufort, North Carolina.
Researchers subsequently moved the dolphin to a nearby facility to conduct a necropsy. The examination indicated that the likely cause of death was a large remnant of a plastic bag, which had a knot in its center, found in the dolphin’s stomach. Notably, no food items were present in the stomach.
A study conducted by the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom in 2024 reveals that the world generates 57 million tons of plastic pollution annually, dispersing it from the depths of the oceans to the peaks of mountains and even into the human body.
The word plastic comes from the Greek word 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.
In the 1967 thought-provoking movie, The Graduate, the leading character (played by Dustin Hoffman) asked for some advice on career direction. “Plastics, my boy. Plastics,” he was told.
By following the advice, plastic has now become a staple of convenience and a modern lifestyle – but with a price. The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the Future of Plastics, a 2016 report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, showed that the world produced 20 times more plastic in 2014, around 311 million tons, than it did in 1964 at 15 million tons.
“Several recent reports indicate the dire global situation associated with the world’s plastic use,” wrote Trevor Nace, senior contributor for Forbes. “Two statistics jump out immediately. One, that globally humans buy a million plastic bottles per minute. The second, 91% of all plastics is not recycled. On top of that, it is estimated that over half a trillion plastic bottles will be sold in 2020.”
In the Philippines, plastics are now part of everyone’s daily life, according to 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. Most of these plastics end up in the open seas. “There is a lack of statistics on the amount of plastic in the Philippine waters. What is known is that the amount of mismanaged plastic waste is continuously increasing, and that the plastic crisis requires urgent action,” said World Bank’s Agata E. Pawlowska in her speech delivered during the Marine Plastics Conference some years back.
According to her, if the current trends continue, “by 2025, there may be more plastic than fish in the ocean, by weight. The problem of plastics has been created in our lifetime. Half the volume of the plastic ever manufactured was made only in the last 15 years.”
Most of the plastics floating in the open seas and buried in the bottom of the oceans are those used only once like plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles, and most food packaging materials.
“About 35,580 tons of garbage is generated every day in the Philippines,” said a study, “Status of Solid Waste Management in the Philippines.” “On the average, each person in the country produces about 0.5 kilograms and 0.3 kilograms of garbage every day in the urban and rural areas, respectively.”
At 74%, the household is the major source of waste in the country, the study found out. Of the total solid waste generated from households, 95% can still be used or recycled (43%) or turned into compost (52%).
The “sachet” economy has fueled the proliferation of plastics in the country. “People litter the streets of the Philippines with sachet wrappers,” said another report. “Sachet wrappers can hold just anything from instant coffee to shampoo. And they are cheap. For a developing country, such as the Philippines, people prioritize price because they have limited income. As a result, most companies make their products more accessible and thus more profitable by selling them in small quantities, packaged in sachets.”
Plastics are non-biodegradable, meaning they do not decay and become absorbed by the environment. “Disposed plastic materials can remain in the environment for up to 2,000 years and longer,” wrote Barry E. DeGregorio in an article.
The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) states that more than eight million tons of plastic get in the oceans each year – that’s an equivalent to dumping a garbage truck of plastic every minute.
The never-ending surge of plastics into the world’s oceans is taking an increasing toll on marine species. “Plastics endanger marine life and other animals, because they can mistake a piece of plastic for food when it isn’t,” said a study. “In addition, because of the food chain, even human beings can consume plastic from the fish they eat without even knowing it.
“Fish, birds, and sea turtles mistake plastic for feed. They eat the plastics. And they starve and die. Even if these animals that first ate the plastics live, they can get eaten, thus endangering their predators, such as humans,” the study further stated.
