MANILA, Philippines — Marine conservation group Oceana Philippines is urging the country to act against marine plastic pollution due to its potential threats to the country’s food security.
In a statement, Oceana vice president Gloria Estenzo Ramos said the primary source of marine plastic pollution problem is single-use plastic which turns into microplastics that take hundreds or thousands of years to decompose and wreaks havoc on the environment.
“Even larger plastics such as polyethylene plastic bags cause direct threats to whales and turtles as they get inadvertently ingested and cause blockages to the gut,” Ramos said.
In a recent webinar, Australian fishery veterinarian Matt Landos said microplastics and plastics in general contain hazardous chemical additives and can acquire other toxic chemicals from other sources of aquatic pollution.
Some of the toxic chemicals, he said, remain in the environment for decades and build up in the food chain.
Lando, who is the director of the Future Fisheries Veterinary Service based in New South Wales, said microscopic life such as zooplanktons found at the bottom of marine food webs confuse the plastic particles for food, contributing to their malnutrition and exposing the fish and the food chain, including fish eaters, to toxic chemicals.
“Zooplanktons are important in the aquatic food chain as these provide the first meal for the fish in their early life.Those aquatic creatures that rely upon these zooplanktons further up the food chain suffer in a knock-on domino effect of starvation,” Lando said.
Lando said microplastics have already been detected in marine organisms from plankton to whales, in commercial seafood, and even in drinking water, citing a recent report by the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN).
According to the report, most plastic chemicals are toxic, and microplastics attract, concentrate, and magnify other persistent toxic chemicals from the surrounding aquatic environment onto their surfaces.
“The government should act on preventing the impacts of toxic chemicals in plastic production, use, and disposal to also address their effects to the environment and public health,” said Chinkie Peli?o Golle, executive director of IPEN.
Ramos stressed that several countries are already taking action to reduce microplastics in the environment, however, for the Philippines, the efforts towards this initiative remains lacking.
“While the Philippines has a law regarding solid waste management, implementation by the concerned government agencies remains lacking,” Ramos said.
The Oceana official cited data from the Waste Assessment Brand Audit 2019 report of the Global Alliance for Incinerators Alternatives (GAIA) which showed that the country produced daily 164 million pieces of sachets, 48 million shopping bags, 45.2 million pieces of “labo” bags or thin transparent plastic bags.
“We must do our part to help in rapidly reducing the use of plastics to address what is already an escalating problem of pandemic proportions,” Ramos said.
In June, Oceana – along with citizens and other civil society alliances, served notices to sue to the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) for failing to address the country’s plastic pollution problem.
“More than two weeks have passed, and we are still waiting for the responses of the government agencies. If they do not provide the necessary mandated action to mitigate this huge problem of plastic pollution, then we will pursue all available legal remedies as provided for by the Constitution and the various laws in the country,” said Ramos.
Under Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, the NSWMC is mandated to prepare a list of NEAPP within a year after the law’s effectivity and updates every year thereafter.
The commission is composed of 14 national government agencies and private sector representatives.
Oceana stressed that the manufacture, distribution or use of non-environmentally acceptable packaging materials and the importation of consumer products packaged in non-environmentally acceptable materials are prohibited under Section 48 of RA 9003.