ZERO is both the easiest and most difficult goal, especially in waste management; just ask Jovito L. Benosa, Zero Waste Program Officer of nonprofit EcoWaste Coalition.
Benosa’s and his coalition’s work are cut out for them with the proliferation of plastic and its use, especially after government imposed lockdown measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
Plastic products have been used to divide passengers from drivers and cashiers from buyers, as well as in packaging food delivered to people who stayed at home. Why, even your favorite pharmacist, with face mask and shield on, hides behind two layers of plastic sheets while serving you.
Kristoffer Eduard M. Rada of Mondelez Philippines Inc., country manager for corporate and government affairs, told the BusinessMirror that “in the era of the pandemic, plastic has become a source of protection for the people living below the poverty line.”
Rada spoke two years after the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) released a report in 2018 that said the Philippines generates 2.7 million metric tons of plastic waste annually. That means the country is the third-highest polluter in the world.
Although it ranks better than its Southeast Asian neighbors in terms of collection, garbage is not properly disposed of, the report said.
The report added that 74 percent of the Philippine waste that ends up in the ocean has already been collected.
Plastic myths
ACCORDING to Benosa, “there are myriads of misconceptions and myths surrounding plastic and plastic products.”
“Among these are that plastic is propoor, safer and that there are no accessible alternatives to plastic products and packaging,” he said in response to questions sent via e-mail. “However, experiences from developed countries and countless scientific studies have debunked all of these.”
Benosa pointed to a survey by the Social Weather Stations Inc. (SWS) and commissioned by the Global Alliance Against Incineration (GAIA) to further prove that plastic is anti-poor.
The survey, which asked people on their stands on banning single-use plastics (SUPs), revealed that 71 percent of the Filipinos are for totally banning SUP products and packaging.
“Topping the list of materials that should be regulated or used less nationally is sando bags (71 percent), followed by plastic straws and stirrers (66 percent), plastic labo bags (65 percent), styrofoam or polystyrene food containers (64 percent), sachets (60 percent), tetra pack or doy pack for juices (59 percent), plastic drinking cups (56 percent), cutlery such as plastic spoons and forks (54 percent), plastic bottles for juice (49 percent), and plastic bottles for water (41 percent).” (The survey results are found here: https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/2020/01/21/7-out-of-10-filipinos-favor-a-national-single-use-plastics-ban-survey-reveals/)
EPR scheme
ACCORDING to several studies, the weakest link in waste management in the country is recycling.
Czarina Constantino, national lead for the “no plastics for nature” initiative of WWF Philippines, said the Philippines has a plastics recycling rate of 9 percent, citing the WWF’s commissioned study on the extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme assessment of plastic packaging wastes in the Philippines.
The same study, according to her, showed a 35-percent plastic waste leakage from the 2,150 thousand tons of our annual plastics consumption.
The study, Constantino added, showed that high-value recyclable packaging is already separated from household waste to a limited extent, and transferred to recycling systems. For low-value plastics (e.g. sachets, composites), these are mostly disposed of and collected together with other residual waste, she told the BusinessMirror.
According to Constantino, who is also Plastic Smart Cities Project Manager, the issues related to recycling include the archipelagic structure of the Philippines, little to no recycling infrastructure, lack of a reliable waste management database, non-recyclability of most plastics and lack of a system for extracting and recycling high value plastics.
One of many
BENOSA said while recycling is an integral part of municipal solid waste management, there are many ideas that should be un-learned.
“One of the many misconceptions propagated by industries–notably plastic, is that recycling is the primary solution to our plastic problem,” he said. “We have to face the fact that recycling cannot compensate for the environmental and health hazards posed by the production of plastic.”
Benosa noted that even countries with institutionalized EPR and good solid waste management systems are not able to collect and upcycle all of the wastes that are produced.
He noted that Europe has the highest collection rate of plastic for recycling with 29.7 percent, followed by China (22.8 percent) and then the United States (9.5 percent).
“Moreover, the low recycling rate has also been facing several challenges before it can be a force to reckon with in the waste management program of the government,” Benosa said. “In short, it is inutile unless it is going to be assisted by various sectors.”
He further explained that even though single-use plastic products and packaging are labelled “recyclable,” “these materials are often not recyclable due to their size, color, layers, thinness and improper disposal.”
“Companies usually produce lighter weight plastic or multi-layer packaging (e.g., sachets), which are hard to recycle or simply non-recyclable at all,” Benosa said.
Packaging, production
FOR Mondelez Philippines, however, it believes it’s doing well in waste management.
According to Rada, his company has eliminated 60,000 tons of unnecessary plastic from its packaging. He added the manufacturer of goods under the “Cadbury” and “Chips Ahoy!” brands is “committed” to turn all its packaging materials to be recycle-ready by 2025.
“This is a global commitment. To support further the commitment, we are working with government, industry non-government organizations to develop an infrastructure and ensure there is greater harmonization in recycling these materials properly collected and properly recycled,” Rada said.
“This is a shared problem; Filipinos have this backyard mentality,” he added. “All components have to work in sync to make sure it would work.”
On the local front, Mondelez is working closely with the Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability (Parms) whose members are competing in the industry “that bonded together for a single cause,” Rada said.
Parms is also a member of the Ellen McArthur Foundation, an organization that aims to promote plastic waste reduction and recycling plastic in the world.
Last February, Parms released a declaration of commitment–Zero Waste to Nature: Ambition 2030–by global and local manufacturers, together with plastic producers, recyclers and other members of the waste value chain, to initiate and support efforts to reduce and collect waste.
Liabilities for all
CONSTANTINO believes that, following the hierarchy in waste management principles, government, private sector and the general public should all work together toward waste avoidance.
“Addressing plastic pollution requires both upstream (pre-consumption) and downstream measures (consumption and post consumption),” Constantino said.
“It is important to focus on both the reduction of the production and the consumption of unnecessary plastic, and also on managing plastic products and packaging, ensuring that materials are used as long as possible in our society,” she added.
Constantino noted that addressing issues on recycling requires the private sector to design their product packaging in a more environment-friendly and sustainable way–including developing eco-designs and making them more recyclable.
“Producers and consumer brands need to be accountable for the negative impacts of their packaging to the environment,” Constantino said. “The government, on the other hand, should have a uniform approach in implementing national regulations and [that] responsibilities are dispersed among all government levels.”
WWF advocates for the adoption of the EPR scheme that holds manufacturers and brand owners accountable for the end-of-life impacts of their plastic products and packaging and encourages eco-design, she explained.
“We see this as a mechanism to both reduce unnecessary plastics in the product packaging, strengthen sorting and collection and increase the recycling rate in the country.”
Engaging LGUs
ACCORDING to Benosa, it is in the best interest of government to promote and implement a zero-waste policy.
Indeed, the coalition advocates for banning problematic products and packaging, e.g. SUPs, and implementing a zero-waste approach or strategy.
“Shifting to zero waste does not only give additional savings and/or revenue for model LGUs [local government units], but it also creates green jobs (through recycling) for community folks,” Benosa told the BusinessMirror.
He cited the LGU of General Mariano Alvarez (GMA), Cavite, as one such zero-waste model. EcoWaste said its collaboration with the LGU has increased its waste diversion rates by 58 percent.
“However, the municipality is finding it hard to raise this number due to SUPs and packaging that cannot be recycled in any way so they all end up in stocked in their material recovery facility (MRF),” Benosa said.
SUPs policy
ACCORDING to Benosa, GMA in Cavite is not the only LGU at the forefront of that battle.
He added that hundreds of LGUs have been enacting ordinances banning or regulating the distribution and use of different varieties SUPs within their jurisdiction. He cited Los Baños, Laguna, one of the first municipalities to pass such ordinance back in 2008, which has been in full implementation up until today.
“LGUs with a plastic ordinance face the same battle as GMA, Cavite, since there is still no national policy in place banning the production and distribution of disposable plastics,” Benosa said. “Because of this, corporations and industries are still continuously given a pass to produce and distribute their problematic products and packaging.”
Developing a law
BENOSA thinks that, “in the most ideal scenario, proper implementation of waste management laws will not be completely successful if there is no law banning and/or regulating the production of the non-environmentally acceptable products (NEAP) and/or material, which is long overdue and should have been prepared a year after RA [Republic Act] 9003 was enacted.”
“Just like the plastic ban and regulation laws in other countries, the one that should be passed in the Philippines must be comprehensive; covering the most problematic products and packaging in the country,” he said.
Citing a waste and brand audit done in 2018, Benosa said the top 10 problematic materials in the Philippines are as follows: polystyrene (styrofoam); polyethylene terephthalate (PET bottles); single-layer plastic film; multilayer plastic bonded materials; high density polyethylene; polypropylene plastic; and, polyvinyl chloride.
“We need to change the systems and status quo in the country so we can fight plastic pollution; and that entails no longer giving a free pass to the billion-dollar corporations that benefit from this system of consumerism and throw-away culture,” Benosa said. “This is why we are pushing for a national bill that would seek to reduce waste by banning the production of such harmful products and packaging.”
Effective recycling
FOR EcoWaste Coalition member-organization of the Mother Earth Foundation Philippines (MEF), the country has still a lot to be done as waste management and recycling are concerned.
“For effective recycling, collection of the clean recyclables is very important,” MEF Chairman Sonia S. Mendoza told the BusinessMirror.
Mendoza said in response to questions sent via email, for communities implementing RA 9003, “this is not a problem because segregated collection is imposed.”
“The general practice, however, is mixed-waste collection and this result in dirty and contaminated recyclables; [thus, reducing] the value of the recyclables,” she explained.
According to Mendoza, a big help in waste management are the paleros–technically, “cleaner,” in Spanish but refers to garbage collectors locally.
“While the paleros in the garbage trucks get the recyclables, the big help from the informal-waste pickers add to the volume of recyclables when they scavenge in the dumpsites or landfills,” she said.
Mendoza said the MEF strictly implements RA 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, in all their project sites.
She said recyclables are usually collected from households but sometimes households sell them directly to the junkshops. Before selling, households clean the recyclables to ensure they are not contaminated with food waste, as source segregation is mandated under RA 9003.
Various approach
BECAUSE the MEF doesn’t have a recycling center, the plastic recyclables are sold by the junkshops to the factories that manufactured these and are down-cycled to products of lower standards, such as colored basins, pails, chairs, bottles, etc.
Under the MEF program, bottles are re-used or melted and made into bottles again. Except for glass bottles, the plastic waste doesn’t undergo proper recycling, Mendoza said.
She emphasized that the Philippines must also put up recycling centers just like China, Thailand and India to boost recycling in the country.
Mendoza believes implementing RA 9003 will increase recycling even during the pandemic.
As the biggest generator of solid waste, Mendoza urged households to do their part in recycling and segregation. Most of the recyclables are categorized now under infectious or hazardous waste and are disposed of in the landfills.
“Using reusables such as masks, cutleries, cups, plates, will reduce the volume of disposables,” she said, citing a scientist’s statement that reusables are safe to use during the pandemic.
She said the MEF is encouraging the public to pursue composting as this is a form of cycling.
“Food waste is turned into compost and used as soil enhancers,” Mendoza said.
To address the problem of organic waste and food waste, Mendoza said people should use the anaerobic digestion of biogas production, a form of waste-to-energy method that doesn’t require burning the waste.
“The energy produced can be used as fuel and power (electricity),” she said.
Trash burning
THE MEF doesn’t believe incinerators are the solution to the country’s garbage problem, according to Mendoza.
“Incinerators will not reduce the need for landfills [and, on the contrary, requires that] we have to build more landfills because the ash from the incinerators needs to be disposed of in hazardous waste landfills,” Mendoza said. The latter, she said, are more expensive than an ordinary landfill.
“For every four tons of garbage that are incinerated, one ton of toxic ash is produced,” she explained.
The MEF is urging all LGUs to order schools under their purview to collect papers, keep these clean and sell these to the paper industry for recycling.
“We import paper and collecting them after use will be a big boost to paper recycling,” she said.
However, there is a caveat, according to Benosa.
“Even in the best available recycling technology, the maximum recycling level would only be between 36 percent and 53 percent,” he told the BusinessMirror. “And even if we reach the maximum 53 percent, the projections for overall increase in plastic production mean the amount of non-recycled plastic polluting the environment would still double.”
Image credits: AP/Aaron Favila