PICTURES

(LOCAL)

POLLUTED WATERS. The Manila Bay is slowly becoming a garbage dumpsite. All photos by
AC Dimatatac/Rappler

Campaign against the use of plastic.

Plastics in manila bay

Picking out the possible recyclable plastics

Volunteers classifying plastics for possible reuse.

FOREIGN

Although inhabited and remote, South Sentinel island is covered with plastic! Plastic pollution
and marine debris, South Sentinel Island, Bay of Bengal.

An Albatross, victim of plastic ingestion

Seal trapped in a fish net because of migration due to plastic pollution.

Effects/Problems on plastics
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plastic bags clog our overtaxed sewage systems

A plastic bag takes 400 to 1,000 years to break down in a landfill, while releasing
carcinogenic chemicals into the environment.
Almost 90 percent of floating marine debris is plastic, which is especially harmful to
marine life because it accumulates and concentrates toxins in the ocean
Plastic breaks down into small particles called microplastics that end up in the food
chain, harming fish and wildlife and posing a risk to human health. (S. Wright et al.,
2013.)

Floating plastic waste, which can survive for thousands of years in water, serves as mini
transportation devices for invasive species, disrupting habitats.
Plastic buried deep in landfills can leach harmful chemicals that spread into groundwater.
When ingested, Chemicals added to plastics are absorbed by human bodies. Some of
these compounds have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health
effects.
Plastic debris, laced with chemicals and often ingested by marine animals, can injure or
poison wildlife.
the Philippines faces another danger: deadly flooding.
Nung 2009 , Ondoy, Drainage systems that should have helped alleviate the
flooding didnt function properly. Cleanups after the disaster revealed that
garbageprimarily plastic bagswas responsible for blocking the drainage
systems and making the typhoon so deadly