Case Study:

The Impact of Plastic Pollution

in the Environment

Janice Palateo
Alyssa Kate Poliquit
Dafnie Belarmino
Sweet Heärt G. Pabuaya
Princess Ronna Arpon Ramon
Angelo E. Montecillo

2023
Introduction
Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues,
as rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products overwhelms the
world’s ability to deal with them. Plastic pollution is most visible in developing
Asian and African nations, where garbage collection systems are often inefficient
or nonexistent. Most of the plastic trash in the oceans, Earth’s last sink, flows
from land. Trash is also carried to sea by major rivers, which act as conveyor
belts, picking up more and more trash as they move downstream. Once at sea,
much of the plastic trash remains in coastal waters. But once caught up in ocean
currents, it can be transported around the world.

Key Issues:
- Globalization of Plastic Production
- Single-use-plastics
- Improper Disposal
- Lack of Awareness

International Overview
Mass production of plastics, which began just six decades ago, has
accelerated so rapidly that it has created 8.3 billion metric tons—most of it in
disposable products that end up as trash. If that seems like an incomprehensible
quantity, it is. Even the scientists who set out to conduct the world’s first tally of
how much plastic has been produced, discarded, burned or put in landfills, were
horrified by the sheer size of the numbers. This kind of increase would ‘break’
any system that was not prepared for it, and this is why we have seen leakage
from global waste systems into the oceans, according to Jenna Jambeck.
India is top 1 countries responsible for the biggest plastic pollution in our
oceans. A global material balance study on plastics points out that 79 per cent of
the total plastics produced in the world enters our environment as waste. Only 9
per cent of the total plastic waste in the world is recycled. A Central Pollution
Control Board (CPCB) report (2018-19) puts the total annual plastic waste
generation in India at a humungous 3.3 million metric tons per year. Even this
data, frightening as it is, might be an underestimation. While India’s plastic
waste problem is not as huge as that of the rich world, it is definitely growing.
Richer states like Goa and Delhi produce as much as 60 grams and 37 grams per
capita per day respectively – against a national average of 8 grams per capita
per day.
One of the key issues in management of plastic waste has been the lack of
credible, actionable data and information. According to Narain, they need to
understand what is being wasted and why. If they understand the characteristic
of the plastic waste, they will be able to manage it better.

National Overview
The Philippines had the largest share of global plastic waste discarded in the
ocean in 2019. The country was responsible for 36.38% of global oceanic plastic
waste, far more than the second-largest plastic polluter, India, which in the same
year accounted for about 12.92% of the total.
Instead of merely focusing on reducing plastic use, governments should also
consider increasing the accessibility to proper disposal facilities. Indeed, the head
of Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability Crispian Lao states
that 70% of Filipinos lack access to disposal facilities, which steers plastic waste
directly to oceans. With minimal exposure to environmentally-friendly options for
plastic disposal, the population often lacks awareness of plastic pollution.
A high dependence on single-use plastics like multilayer sachets and pouches has
led the Philippines to become a “sachet economy” that continues to worsen the
alarming levels of marine plastic pollution in the region. By some estimates, the
Philippines consumes a staggering 163 million pieces of sachets every day.
Factors that exacerbate the market failure for plastics recycling include:
Fluctuations in virgin resin and oil prices, lack of local recycled content
requirements for key plastic resins, challenging short- and long-term collection
economics for the informal sector, lack of “design for recycling” standards,
fragmented implementation of waste management, lack of organic waste
treatment facilities.

Local Overview
Rivers carry plastic waste from the cities to the oceans. Many of these tiny
plastic particles are swallowed by farm animals or fish who mistake them for
food, which we in turn eat. The toxic chemicals used in manufacturing plastics
get transferred to animal tissues, eventually entering the human food chain.
 Davao City has never been more at the forefront of Philippine economic
development with the overwhelming influx of investments and tourists in the city
seen to provide jobs and alleviate poverty. But this development, particularly the
indiscriminate production and use of plastic products, results in a staggering
increase in plastic waste generation and environmental pollution.
There are many existing and available alternatives to plastics that Dabawenyos
have already started to use reusable bottles for drinking, reusable bamboo/metal
straws and food utensils, bayong and ecobags for groceries, biodegradable
packaging such as brown paper or banana leaves for dry goods and with
reusable containers for wet goods.

References:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/plastic-pollution
https://oceanliteracy.unesco.org/plastic-pollution-ocean/
https://www.cseindia.org/plastic-waste-is-india-s-and-the-world-s-most-
formidable-environmental-challenge-10375
https://earth.org/philippines-plastic/
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/philippines/publication/market-study-for-
philippines-plastics-circularity-opportunities-and-barriers-report-landing-
page#:~:text=Fluctuations%20in%20virgin%20resin%20and%20oil%20prices
%20Lack,waste%20management%20Lack%20of%20organic%20waste
%20treatment%20facilities
https://idisphil.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Ban-Single-Use-Plastic.pdf