Pushing back on plastic waste locally and globally
“THE Fraud of Plastic Recycling: How Big Oil and the Plastics Industry Deceived the Public for Decades and Caused the Plastic Waste Crisis” is a report that details how the oil and plastics industries in the US deliberately fooled the US public about the viability of plastic recycling. As the title of the report hints, the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Climate Integrity does not mince words in condemning the oil and plastics industries for the massive, decadeslong deceit and the harm that it has produced: “If not for the Big Oil and the plastic industry’s lies and deception, [US] municipalities and states would not have invested in plastic recycling programs and facilities, many of which have been shut down due to foreseeable economic losses. The industry not only misled municipal and state agencies to believe that plastic recycling was a viable solution to plastic waste but also discouraged them from pursuing other, more sustainable waste management strategies (e.g., waste reduction, reuse, bans, alternative materials) in favor of plastic recycling.” (Center for Climate Integrity, February 2024).
The report chronicles how the oil and plastic industries over the years have responded to public concern about plastic waste. We were fooled into believing that plastics could be recycled at scale, and therefore, we needn’t worry about the ever-growing volumes of plastics being produced, consumed and thrown out. Alas, we have awakened to reality, with birds and whales choking to death on plastics, milk and eggs contaminated with dioxins, our streets flooded as plastics clog the drainage systems. Landfills and dumps are overflowing with plastics, some of which indeed served important purposes, while others were used for only a few minutes before becoming trash.
We can go on ad nauseam with coastal cleanups, plastic waste for food or cash swap programs, turn plastic waste into school furniture or “bricks,” and so on, and it won’t make a dent in the volumes of plastic waste: more plastics are manufactured and turns waste than we can collect in cleanup drives or “recycle” campaigns. Something radical was obviously needed yesterday. The upcoming Global Plastics Treaty is hoped to provide such a long-overdue solution by mandating curbs on plastic production.
Not waiting for a treaty to be negotiated, a group of Filipino consumers and fisherfolk, in November 2023, took the bold step of filing complaints with the Department of Trade and Industry’s Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau against seven big consumer goods companies. According to the complainants, the companies misled the consuming public by claiming that plastic packaging is recyclable when it mostly ends up as toxic garbage. The “recyclable” claim is found on product labels, on the websites of the companies, and in statements to the media. According to the complainants, the public should be warned about the dangers to health and the environment posed by plastic, not fed misleading information that lulls us into thinking that everything is okay.
The DTI’s Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau has cleared the complaint to enter the formal legal process. The process involves arbitration and mediation — where the parties sit down and try to come to an agreement. Of the seven consumer goods companies, only Procter & Gamble has so far agreed to such a dialogue. A mediation agreement was signed by the company and the complainants after months of meetings and exchanges of views and perspectives. P&G was No. 7 in Break Free From Plastics 2023 Global Brand Audit of plastic waste found in the environment, so the company — manufacturer of consumer goods such as soap and shampoo, toothpaste, sanitary pads and diapers, laundry soap and dish wash — obviously has a problem.
One may suspect that P&G is after PR points by submitting to the mediation process. However, I like to think that the company is truly concerned not just about its corporate image but about its ecological footprint as well. I like to believe that P&G wants to be part of the solution. Interestingly, on its website, P&G states that it does “not consider waste to energy and conversion to fuels as suitable end markets to satisfy [its] definition [of recyclable packaging].”
The mediation process between the complainants and P&G represents a unique opportunity to find solutions that are doable and address all concerns: environmental, health, consumer and business aspects. “This is a victory for both the complainants and the respondents, and credit is due to the mediation of the DTI that opened the opportunity for the parties to dialogue further,” Enrique Beren of the Young Bataeños for Environmental Advocacy Network (Young Bean) said in a statement issued by Break Free From Plastic. Any positive outcome of the mediation will be a victory for everyone — the environment and future generations included.