IT is unfortunate that protecting the environment is clouded with much in the way of political agendas and fear mongering. It is often difficult to separate the hype from the reality of the problems. Further, the attitude of many of the environmental groups is: “We are right, end of discussion”.
However, none of us can deny the fact that “plastic pollution” is a growing concern that is going to require that we change our habits and attitudes. Every plastic bag that winds up in the ocean, on our streets, or clogging our waterways ultimately comes down to one person and one plastic bag.
Cities that have banned plastic grocery bags are trying to do their part to change our behavior, and sometimes it is inconvenient to change.
In the United States, it was not until the 1960s that people were brought into the light about road littering. Fines were introduced for throwing waste out of cars and the laws were enforced. Eventually the public’s mindset changed, and littering became socially unacceptable. Social guilt about littering became common.
US President Dwight Eisenhower once said that the government could legislate behavior but that it could not legislate attitude. But over time, a different and better attitude eventfully kicks in. Right now, our attitude is that pollution is someone else’s problem, and that needs to change.
Plastic pollution is a monumental problem not only because of the amount of waste but also the variety of throwaway plastic products many of which we do not even think about. Because it is not a problem that can be solved immediately or totally, we have to break it down into pieces and take one step at a time. When we are told that we need to bag plastic bags, plastic drinking straws, and plastic sachets of products that lower economic classes depend upon, it does not—or maybe is not—look feasible all at once.
Obviously we need to expand on severally limiting the use of plastic grocery bags. These bags are big business and are an integral part of our retail businesses from supermarkets to sari-sari stores. There is also some hypocrisy when a supermarket on one side of the street in another city cannot use plastic bags while the one across the street in another city is free to use whatever it wants. There has to be some sort of national coordination of the laws as much as we also disagree often with “imperial Manila.”
Further, local and the national government must be proactive in helping businesses cope with changes in the law.
Under Republic Act 9003, or the Solid Waste Management Act, local governments are tasked with solid waste management in their respective areas. That is unrealistic given the huge differences in LGU funding, population, location and the economic status of its citizens.
When an environmental group says that there is the need to pass on the burden to manufacturers, that shows ignorance of how the real world works. Manufactures provide single-use sachets of coffee, for example, because that is only what many people can afford.
There needs to be a separate national level task force, which would include all stakeholders to formulate a long-term plan. But initially, solving the plastic pollution problems starts with each one of us.