DENR chief: PH faces daunting challenge versus plastic wastes

DEPARTMENT of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Maria Antonia Loyzaga said the country faces a deadly challenge, considering that the Philippines produces 2.7 million tons of plastic waste each year

Loyzaga, in a statement, said: “This year’s Earth Day is an urgent call to face a deadly challenge. The theme Planet vs. Plastics aims to spread awareness of the indestructibility of plastics and the hazards they pose to our health, the lives of our ecosystems, and our ability to take effective climate action.”

She said the DENR must make “every day an Earth Day.”

Loyzaga cited the Philippines’ 2.7 million tons of plastic waste per year, most of which are found in landfills, dumpsites, rivers, and water supply systems. She said 20 percent of such waste ends up in the oceans.

“Over and above our organic waste, plastic for our market needs, food wrapping and packaging for our consumers all make up the 61,000 metric tons of solid waste we produce daily. When the rains come, we are literally swimming them,” she said.

“But on a daily basis, we consume plastics in the fish caught in our seas through the substandard water bottles we use and in the very air we breathe. Microplastics have been found in raindrops and are being studied for their impact on clouds and climate change,” she added.