Ocean plastics

I am always excited when I gear up to go snorkeling. In the past couple of years, we have often been in the beach in Matabungkay, where it’s a real daily pleasure (plus exercise) doing up to two to three kilometers’ length of a swim.

Under the liquid embrace of the ocean’s expanse, I enter the world of the silent poet, magical, where time stops and I enter meditation and inspiration. Beneath the waves, corals bloom their intricate forms weaving tapestries of life — soft pinks, fiery oranges and deep purples in conversation with the darting fish and drifting plankton. Inspired, yet I always tell myself — why bother to even paint what I see when they are all so perfect already?

Time always slows, as I become one with the sea, floating with the moon-pulled currents until I get rudely pulled away from my dreamy reverie by plastic bottles! And this is where it hurts, deep in the heart, for the garbage we dump on the planet. The ocean, once a giver of life, now swallows our refuse, its waves coughing up the remnants of our human recklessness and unconsciousness. Even walks through the mangroves or beach fronts sometimes depress me because so much plastic is washed to the shores.

Our widespread culture of sachet purchases by millions in poverty multiply these plastics that inevitably end up in the ocean/seas. From small waterways of urban areas, or cruise ships that ply the waters, plastic finds its way out to the open sea. A chain reaction happens: coral life at high risk of contracting diseases (data shows 89 percent more risk of this today due to the spread of pathogens); the disruption of the marine ecosystems, with sea animals consuming microplastics. The karmic turn is that the fish and marine life come back to us as seafood. And we begin to kill ourselves slowly but surely.

Tourism campaigns highlight the 7,600 archipelago and the beauty of our natural resources. But the shadow fact is that the Philippines is on record (in 2019) as having had the largest share of global plastic waste discarded in the ocean. The country was responsible for 36.38 percent of global oceanic plastic waste, far more than the second-largest plastic polluter, India, which in the same year accounted for about 12.92 percent of the total. Today, the Philippines is rank the third from the top with 2.7 metric tons of plastic wastes every year. I got this ranking recently whey I sat through a forum discussion on Republic Act 11898 which institutionalized (in 2022) the Extended Producers Responsibility on Plastic Packaging Waste. The EPR Law shift the responsibility to the producers requiring them to be environmentally responsible throughout the lifecycle of a product, especially its post-consumer or end-of-life stage. All this in alignment with the hoped for circular economy.

The EPR Forum was hosted by the ECCP (European Chamber of Commerce) bringing stakeholders together from business, the academe and international groups — all sustainability advocates, for sure.

It was interesting to listen to multi-stakeholder concerns each valid from where they sat. NGOs said just stop producing plastics by changing packaging, nipping the problem at the start rather than focus on recycling; Advocates for the circular economy highlighted the economic opportunity and to make circularity the norm rather than the exception. Auditing firms demanded standards to be followed for compliance to the law. Critics of the law also criticized government (in this case, the Department of Energy and Natural Resources) for failing to properly enforce and implement the law: From standards, penalties, waste disposal management system infrastructure and integrations, education and training. Obligated enterprises (those that make P100 million and above and who use plastic for their products) must comply with audit reports or be penalized — their cry, and how about the freeloader companies or those who greenwash?

There are so many challenges, but what is good to see was the effort everyone was taking to come together, find ways to collaborate, see how the missing links can be made better. Here I see one perfect example of the energy of the Aquarian Age manifesting. In collaboration for the higher good of cleaning up and healing the planet. Aquarius gives power to the people, so this time, we,, the people must act. Not to give the responsibility to government or the LGUs, but each of us — through choices, programs we create, businesses we do. It is a paradigm shift that says: RETHINK HOW WE DO BUSINESS. RETHINK HOW WE LIVE AND WHAT WE CHOOSE TO DO.

Rethinking business

This last call sent me back to memories of 16 years since wearing my hat as one of three co-founders of the green store ECHOstore Sustainable LIfestyle. The pioneering stand we took was for rethinking business. (ECHO the acronym stands for Environment, Community, Hope/Health and Organization). We placed social and environmental impact central to the business push for a sustainable lifestyle.

The first thing we did was ditch plastic packaging and started used magazine packaging. And we spoke anywhere and everywhere we were invited to, locally and internationally. We tried to help build circular systems by also bringing in inclusive business formats to the very poor. The sell was for supporting green products from small community producers, many of them women (through our other brand GREAT Women) and the planet.

Today, our business formats have morphed into organic farms, sustainable tourism, slow food and the continuing advocacy to clean and heal ourselves and our earth. Sixteen years after, we still stand behind this, knowing full well that “green and sustainability” is now mainstream. Even as the world is in even more crisis. This EPR Law is a last-ditch effort of government to create regulations. In its nascent state, let us actively get involved in our own ways of looking at life and the use of plastics.

May is celebrated as Ocean Month in our country supported by Presidential Proclamation 57 in 1999. This aims to highlight the importance of our coastal and marine resources. Begin this month…that when you order any seafood — think of plastic alongside this. And maybe you will want to go ask and investigate where that fish came from. When you effortlessly buy a small bottle of water, maybe you may want to choose to commit to bring your thermos around instead. Or bring eco bags when marketing. Refuse that plastic bag, plastic straw in your drink, rethink packaging. And if you are in business (no matter how micro or big), look at your impact in plastic. Remember, the power of change is in the choices we make.