Plastic here, plastic there, everywhere you look you will see plastic. These things do not look good and will stay for a long time floating, drifting, and constantly clogging the waterways.

Why is plastic such a big problem when it comes to floods?

Plastic is already filling the world especially now that the pandemic has increased people’s consumption of single-use and disposable plastic. Plastic cutlery and plastic cups are often used to prevent covid contamination. Even plastic food containers have become in demand during this time.

Apart from this, the use of plastic packaging has also increased due to the number of consumers in online shopping. After unboxing, almost everything used in the packaging goes straight to the trash.

Plastic materials are also used in PPE suits, face shields, gloves, and other synthetic masks, which has led to an increase in the production of plastics around the world.

Plastic has the fastest production rate of all types of materials.

In the 1950s-1970s the percentage of plastic waste problems was small but in the 1990’s the production of used plastic products tripled. It multiplied until the little problem became a big problem now.

According to the United Nations Environment Program, we produce about 300 million tons of plastic waste every year. That’s nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population.

Alarmingly, after China and Indonesia, the Philippines is third among the top countries polluting the oceans with plastic waste with an estimated 0.75million metric tons of plastic waste per year.


Image from Statista website

Almost all plastic waste is single-use plastic and even if they are recycled only 9% of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled. About 12% has been incinerated in waste treatment systems. 79% has accumulated in landfills, dumps, or the natural environment.

As a result, much of the plastic that is discarded goes into drainage systems or other waterways. And because of the amount of plastic stored in the narrow estuaries, the water does not flow properly, it also clogs the pumping stations and causes flooding in our country.

Recently for almost 2 weeks ago, it has been raining non-stop in large parts of Luzon, the water has risen rapidly and flooded some areas and when the flood subsided plastic garbage scattered almost everywhere on the road and even on the beach, a pile of plastic waste was washed away. The country’s disposal facilities are also short in number, which is why plastic waste is not disposed of properly.

This is despite that there are a lot of programs like Say NO to Plastic, Reuse-Reduce-Recycle Programs, Banning Single-Use Plastic, Zero Waste Lifestyle, Biodegradable Plastic Alternatives, Garbage Segregation.

Behind these programs, problems will still come from time to time because of the number of plastics that companies make. In fact, according to experts, an increase of almost 40% of current plastic production will happen in the next decade.

If the production of plastics, especially disposables continues to increase, more of them will end up in the estuary, since the facilities in the Philippines are inadequate to segregate and dispose of all of it.

The government is also taking steps to solve the plastic problem. There is a resolution in the House of Representatives and it’s now on final reading the Single-Use Plastic Products Regulation Act or House Bill 9147 which seeks to regulate the production, sale, use, and collection, as well as recycling to the proper disposal of single-use plastics products.

Many steps have also been taken to prevent plastic pollution.

Aside from plastic pollution, global warming will be one of the biggest problems the world will encounter.

One must do their share to control the problem, avoid consuming plastic products if possible, recycle, throw your garbage properly, and any small steps to help the environment will be a great help to our mother nature.

For as long as there’s a lot of plastic we still have a problem that will take as long as these plastics do not rot.