PH tops in ocean plastic trash
I am momentarily turning my gaze from the exchanges among political know-it-alls to something so every day, so basic, we do not notice it is there to someday haunt us if we do not take a look and act now. I imagine a horrific scenario for a future dystopian sci-fi novel.
This is not new, but this deserves attention. In the world’s environmental rogue gallery, the Philippines is not far behind. Now topping the list in the ocean trash department, the Philippines, a clutch of islands that comprises a country in the Pacific Ocean, has earned the badge of shame for being the world’s biggest contributor of garbage to the world’s oceans, beating even its bigger, more affluent neighbors.
We all must take a long, deep breath and not only hang our heads in shame but also actively address the situation. But first, to see and realize that the Philippines is really on top of the list. And then what?
According to Sustainability Online, a business news platform “with a sustainable mindset,” “the Philippines is responsible for some 356,371 metric tons of plastic waste in the planet’s oceans on an annual basis, well ahead of second-placed India, which accounts for 126,513 metric tons.”
It cites data from environmental group GreenMatch that said “nine of the world’s highest plastic polluting countries can currently be found in Asia, with the so-called ‘Pearl of the Orient’ the top culprit.” Ouch! That “pearl” is none other than the Philippines, Jose Rizal’s “region del sol querida, perla del mar de oriente, nuestro perdido eden.”
According to the news platform, other major contributors to the ocean plastic waste include Malaysia with 73,098 metric tons, China with 70,707, and Indonesia with 56,333. Here’s more in metric tons: Myanmar (40,000), Brazil (37,799), Vietnam (28,221), Bangladesh (24,640), and Thailand (22,806).
According to Original Travel, this huge plastic influx has contributed to an increase in the pH level of the world’s oceans over time, with the pH level currently at 8.1 or a 30-percent increase from the preindustrial age. Original Travel’s findings titled “40 facts and statistics about tourism and ocean sustainability” can be accessed online.
Green Match estimates that 75 to 199 million tons of plastic are currently present in the oceans, with 92 percent of microplastics present in 60 percent of the fish consumed by humans every year. How’s that for pescatarian gastronomes among us?
Green March further points to Asia as responsible for 81 percent of ocean plastic pollution. Blame this on poor waste management, single-use plastics, and limited recycling infrastructure. But I must say and note that here in the Philippines, banning the use of plastic grocery and shopping bags is enforced in many local governments. And shops and shoppers are complying.
The dire scenario: if things go the way they do, it is not far-fetched for plastics to crowd out the fish in the ocean by 2050. As I said earlier, a dystopian scenario for a sci-fi novel or movie.
Beachfront cleanup drives by young volunteers are commendable, but, sadly, there is more where the garbage comes from, much of it from upstream, and from rivers and creeks that serve as garbage receptacles in heavily populated urban areas. While we blame much of the unprecedented flooding on substandard and ghost flood control projects that channeled staggering billions to contractors and politicians with sticky fingers (after case buildup, no mercy for them), garbage also worsens the scenario.
One cannot say enough about the way everyday commodities—food, personal hygiene necessities, toys, gadgets, stuff ordered online, etc.—are packed. You order a small item sold online, a book, for example, and it comes heavily protected with bubble wrap, more voluminous than the item itself. Aren’t online sellers cautioned against this? Are there biodegradable bubble wraps?
While all eyes are on flood-prone areas made so by corruption and neglect, we must as well look into other factors that aggravate the life-threatening, man-made disasters—garbage, deforestation, quarrying, and mining among them. Plastic garbage is a continuing, everyday scourge that suffocates streams, rivers, and oceans. A scourge that kills the wonderful creatures of this blue planet, their home and ours.
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