ENVIRONMENTALISTS offered a timely advice yesterday, Valentine’s Day, to “lovers” of single-use plastics (SUPs): break up or perish. Break free from SUPs as this toxic relationship with throw-away plastics is threatening the health of the ecosystems, especially the marine environment.
We can live without SUPs, but we cannot live sans clean oceans where a big chunk of these disposable plastics, along with their chemical additives, gets dumped every minute. Better end this noxious relationship before the oceans completely turn into a plastic cesspool.
According to studies, around 50 percent of the 380 million tons of plastic produced per year are for single-use, or used for a few minutes and then thrown away like the ubiquitous plastic bags, drinking bottles, cups, sachets, wrappers, cutlery, straws, stirrers, etc. Every year, some eight to 10 million tons of plastic and their chemical additives are dumped into the oceans and the results are deeply concerning: one million aquatic animals are killed due to plastic pollution, 100 percent of mussels tested are contaminated with microplastics, and that by 2050, experts warn, there will be more plastics than fish in the oceans.
Breaking up with SUPs has become an essential and ethical choice for consumers amid the growing plastic pollution crisis that is threatening the health of our oceans and humanity and aggravating climate change. Countering the plasticization of the oceans, however, require global and national policy measures that will reduce and control plastic production, and promote plastic-free alternatives that can be reused, recycled or composted.
In the Philippines, environmentalists have been pushing the National Solid Waste Management Commission to identify and consequently prohibit non-environmentally acceptable products and packaging (NEAP) with SUPs on top of the list. Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, requires the commission to issue the NEAP list one year after the law took effect, which was two decades ago in 2001.
But there are practical ways citizens can do to bid adieu to our convenient but toxic relationship with SUPs. Use bayong, fabric bags and other reusable bags instead of plastic carry or grocery bags. Go for tiffin carriers, stainless steel lunch boxes and repurposed bottle jars instead of polystyrene food containers. Use water canteens, jugs or flasks, with no lead coatings, in place of plastic water bottles. Use washable glasses, tumblers or mason jars in lieu of plastic cups. Use glass, porcelain and other lead-free dishware instead of disposable plates. Use reusable bamboo and metal straws or, better still, go straw-free and drink straight from the glass or bottle.
For the love of Mother Earth, break up with SUPs and fall in love with ecological alternatives.
