By Stiv Wilson on February 17, 2011
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(photos by FRANCIS R. MALASIG)
I just read an argument against plastic bag bans from an industry wonk who claimed, "Only 2% of plastic waste is bags." Okay, well, after looking at this picture, let's just go ahead and say in response: we have a long way to go after we ban the bag. Especially in places that simply can't deal with imported 'soon to be garbage' like the Philippines. Marcus Eriksen, our Executive Director, sent along these photos to me yesterday along with a few words. His meditation encapsulates the spirit of 5 Gyres exceptionally well and hints toward the direction we're moving in the future.
The people at
the end of the road, that we sometimes forget exist, bear the burden of
civilization's excess. The developing world wants the affluence and
convenience of the west, but the infrastructure for waste management does not
exist. Our collective conscience cannot tolerate the synthetic chemistry
of our industrial and technological advances to become the burden of our
poorest communities or reside in the bodies of our children, yet today everyone
carries this chemical legacy. The producers of plastics have an
obligation to plan for the post-consumer life of their product, all the way to
the end. If you want to clean the 5 gyres in the ocean of plastic waste,
then give your time and funds to those that clean up these watersheds, where
plastic hurts people. And more importantly, to those legislative
advocates that prevent the proliferation of plastic pollution throughout
society. To reach the people at the end of the road, we have to begin our
work there and work backwards to ourselves.
So how much garbage inundates the Philippines during the Ondoy floods? Check a snippit from this
blog:
Giant consumer goods manufacturer Unilever claims that every day, it sells 160 million products. Assuming that the sales volume of the other manufacturing giants, Procter & Gamble and Nestle is in the vicinity of Unilever’s, that would be some 500 million products sold daily. Let’s peg a conservative estimate that 10 percent of all products sold are in plastic sachets, then that’s 50 million. That’s 50 million plastic sachets and pouches that will eventually find its way to our oceans, waterways, landfills and drainage systems ready to clog the free flow of water and trigger floods or kill marine wildlife. But it is really reasonable to think that of the 500 million products sold daily by the three giants, only 10 percent of are in tiny plastic sachets?
The Plastic Promise
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Tags
Plastic Pollution Ondoy Floods Plastic Pollution Philippines
