Plastics, in plastics, in plastic by: Jethro Malvin Bacolod Date Posted: 08/04/2008 12:31 am

Maybe most of us are living the “good life” as we define it.

This may sound cliché, yet there is a pressing need to train our guns with this seemingly e s c a l a t i n g problem that haunts almost everyone on this planet—Plastic pollution.

One may not have any idea what these plastics might bring for now (of course, since summer is in the offing) but wait until you caught yourself summoning the evils as you failed to cross another block or two in Colon street while in the middle of a lousy drizzle.

You would probably dare not say any Nirvana .

Seriously now, the issue on plastic pollution has tainted our local dailies, yet the response from the people seems so regrettable that they still fall victims of their own crime over and over again. They still utter the same words when they are caught in the middle of the street during a Baha (flood), unmindful of the garbage they recklessly toss anywhere in the sidewalks and on the roads.

During the months of May and June, mudslides and flash floods plagues the metropolis with casualties that go beyond what we can imagine. Among the chief causes of this problem are the plastic bags that clog our City’s street drainage, along with other garbage irresponsibly thrown everywhere.

Only recently, local dailies reported an alarming number of deaths of children and adults caused by flash floods and mud slides from almost all parts of our archipelago.

Plastic bags choke drains, and thus prevent rainwater from naturally running off to canals, rivers and creeks. In many other countries, plastic bags have wrought havoc—sometimes of a magnitude more deadly than what we have experience here in the Philippines.

These petroleum by-products do not only choke drains; they can take as much as a millennium to disintegrate and take down with them aquatic life, birds and other animals. Plastic bags are made from petrochemicals that, in turn, are extracted from petroleum. With oil prices climbing to unprecedented levels, the time has never been better to look for practical alternatives.

In the western Indian state of Maharashtra, the authorities, together with the media, environmental and citizens’ group paved the way for the banning of the use of plastic bags. This drastic action took effect right after a widespread flood caused the death of over 1,000 people in Mumbai (Bombay) area .

The culprit: tons and tons of plastic bags that clogged their flood drains. As an effect, authorities imposed a fine of 5,000 rupees (about $114) on companies, shops and other business entities who are caught using plastic bags, while individuals are fined 1,000 rupees for every violation.

The ban causes rage among plastic manufacturers that produce 7,000 tons of plastic bags annually. With the implementation of the ban, plastic bag manufacturers estimated at about $ 20 million loses every year.

In Ireland, governments have imposed a special tax on plastic bags that has significantly cut down their use. Shops in Ireland, for instance, no longer supply customers with plastic bags unless their customers were willing to pay for them.

Irish shoppers used some 1.2 billion plastic bags annually before the levy was adopted. After the imposition of the heavy levy on plastic bags, the Irish environment department revealed that plastic bag use dropped by around 95 percent. Plastic bags previously made up five percent of Ireland’s garbage; the figure has dropped to just 0.3 percent due to the levy.

Australia, the United Kingdom, South Africa and other countries were last reported to be carefully studying the Irish example.

But these regulations did not reach the Philippines, yet.

Perhaps, our government can slowly produce campaign against the use of plastic bags or propose another alternative to these polymers and avoid waiting those floods to cause death among our fellowmen.

Maybe the best alternative to plastic bags is Bayong (native bag made from coconut leaves) or perhaps the old-fashioned Bolsita (paper bag).