All vs. plastics

Make every day Earth Day.

Happily, there are many who believe in this and continue to contribute what they can to protect Mother Earth. May their numbers increase!

Shout out to residents/officials of certain Cebu City barangays who have before/on/or after the April 22 Earth Day embarked on initiatives to help create better communities where they are.

Barangay Carreta, with residents/officials like Councilor Rhodora Pyls, continue to share their eco-friendly photos/initiatives --coastal cleaning and saving plastic wastes in ecobricks that are collected/weighed (3.7 kilos last April 23).

Barangays Sambag 2, Kamputhaw, Parian, and other communities have also reported about their clean-up activities including CCENRO-led Guadalupe River clean-up.

Councilor Nida Cabrera shared that Barangay Luz was able to collect 37.8 kilos of plastics inside ecobricks which they donated to Cebu City.

Aside from drainage clean up, Barangay Luz also sponsored a Green Fashion Catalogue which brought together barangay and SK officials, women, and LGBTQ groups collaborating and supporting a green fashion show that showcased designs and products made from 90% recyclable or reused materials such as newspapers/magazines/cartons, plastic cups, bottles, spoons, recycled blankets, fabric/clothing, others.

RCE-Cebu, with partners from the academe, CSOs, and government agencies, among others, are still continuing with their #LoveOurEarth personal ecobrick campaign beyond Valentine’s Day and is in the process of monitoring data of ecobricks produced and total number of kilos of plastics saved.

Tentatively, the University of the Philippines Cebu Mass Communication students produced/collected their personal ecobricks (totaling 38 which when shredded produced 2.5 kg of plastic wastes). Pagtambayayong Foundation and their partner communities, while still double-checking their data, shared very tentative initial estimates of about 60 kg of plastics saved and more than several sacks of about 100 ecobricks produced.

Partner regional government agencies have also shared initial data --DSWD Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, PENRO Bohol, DepEd-RO7, and DENR Office of the RED-RSCIG reported more than 343 kilos of plastics saved and more than 100 ecobricks produced.

For the information of the public, one ecobrick may weigh less than/or about a kilo but it can contain at least 50-100 more of plastic waste items that do not pollute water/land/air!

Imagine if everyone puts all their daily plastic wastes inside their own personal ecobricks, that will decrease, DAILY, the plastics in the atmosphere, canals/drainage, in creeks/rivers/oceans/dumpsites/landfills!

Certain social enterprises and businesses are also doing their eco-friendly initiatives vs. plastic pollution.

However, experts argue that voluntary measures taken by many companies vs. plastic pollution are not working. Only 9% of plastics are being recycled while the source of the pollution --plastic production-- has doubled since 2000!

The “56 consumer goods multinational companies responsible for more than half of the world’s plastic pollution, with six responsible for a quarter of that” has to be regulated or stopped.

Hopefully, the long-overdue UN Treaty for Plastic Pollution can finally be approved by disagreeing countries in Ottawa.

As the Ecuadorian Ambassador to the UK, Luis Vayas Valdivieso emphasized: “It is very important we are negotiating this treaty now. The world is in a triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. But while there are agreements in place for the first two, we have no legislation, no global agreement on plastic pollution.”

Until that UN Treaty for Plastic Pollution is finally approved and implemented, more local/global collaborative efforts are urgently needed to stop plastics from DAILY continuing to harm our planet.

Local/global anti-Plastic pollution advocates need to review/unify their action/research/funding/initiatives and, among others, 1.) Address the DAILY need to prevent further DAILY plastic production/disposal, 2.) Respond to calls for reliable/updated research/data about waste-incineration-temperature-levels and waste-to-energy negative impacts on health/environment, 3.) Support/promote better technology vs. plastic pollution or substitution, and, 4.) Get everyone involved in the Plastic Trail to meet/dialogue/decide/act together soonest vs. plastic pollution.