Plastic ban no silver bullet for marine litter — SPS

“It’s not black and white that if you just ban plastic, it will solve all the problems. Actually, it can create new problems.”

Save Philippine Seas (SPS) Executive Director and Chief Mermaid Anna Oposa said banning plastics alone would not solve the country’s waste problem, stressing that the issue goes beyond the material itself.

Speaking at the Marine Litter Learning Workshop for Media, Oposa said more than a decade of working with communities, waste collectors and businesses had changed her earlier view that eliminating single-use plastics was the straightforward solution.

The workshop, organized by SPS in partnership with Mondelēz International Philippines, aimed to deepen media professionals’ understanding of marine litter, waste management and environmental reporting.

“When Save Philippine Seas started in 2011, when I was still very new and naive, I actually was in the position that all plastics should be banned. Like single-use plastics should be banned… [but] it’s not that simple,” Oposa shared.

The advocate described plastic as a “double-edged sword,” noting that the same qualities that make it light, durable, flexible and useful also make it problematic when it escapes the waste management system.

Marine Litter-acy

Caitlin Punzalan, Corporate and Government Affairs Lead of Mondelēz International in the Philippines, on the other hand, said the bigger issue is what happens to packaging after consumption, asking: “What is the real issue?” as she discussed why plastic is often blamed for flooding and clogged waterways.

She explained that waste should go through a cycle of collection, sorting and recovery after consumption, warning that if one step is missed, then it will result to leakage that may eventually turn into marine litter.

“Any packaging, regardless of type, if it is not properly disposed of, will become waste and eventually [be a] marine litter,” Punzalan stated.

The snack company representative also cautioned against treating a plastic ban as an easy fix without considering the functions the material serves.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Let’s ban plastic.’ But the question is, will it have more negative effects? Or can we really do it at this moment?” she said, stressing that plastic provides functions that paper cannot.

Punzalan also cited food protection, longer shelf life, affordability and ease of distribution among the reasons plastic remains widely used, while stressing that producers still bear responsibility for the waste they generate.

Pointing to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022 , Punzalan said companies using plastic have obligations to recover and process part of their plastic footprint.

“We cannot just keep producing. It has a purpose, but it also comes with responsibility,” she stressed.