Pollution in Paradise. Is it too late for the Philippines?

All across the Philippines mounds of plastic pollution of varied sizes, can be found spread out across the lush, green vegetation that makes the Philippines so beautiful. Like a multicolored wound in some cases, or a dried-up scar in others, it is a blemish on the otherwise majestic landscape.

For an issue that is pressing both on the international level and in the local community these discarded plastics, that will last beyond our lifetime, blur the image of the wonderful country and its people. It sets a poor example to lure others to come and see the beauty of this country.

A mindset of discipline?

Filipinos often say, in word, in print and even on social media, “Walang disiplina”, or, there’s no discipline. The meaning is clear that people have no self-discipline. Is this the case?

Inside nearly every Filipino home, at any given time, someone might be found sweeping, dusting, washing or scrubbing. Shoes are most typically left outside in the common Asian tradition. These are simple concepts commonly taught to children at home and across all social-economic groups.

Cleanliness as a matter of internal discipline can be a learned behaviour through reinforcement and repetition. And children learn well through repetition. Thus, consistent external dialogue and appropriate example becomes internalized and instills self-discipline. Not only in the Philippines but globally, this mindset is widely known to stem, for the mass majority of children, in the family and in the home.

An academic abstract in Sage Journals reads: “By the time children begin formal schooling, their experiences at home have already contributed to large variations in their math and language development, and once school begins, academic achievement continues to depend strongly on influences outside of school. It is thus essential that educational reform strategies involve primary caregivers.” The abstract goes on to illustrate the importance of programmes, like Early Head Start (a US early childhood education programme) and others on developing parents as early teachers for children.

Outside the home – what happens?

However, once outside of their supportive environments, Filipino children see the littered garbage all around their neighbourhoods; and as they grow older see the even more threatening concerns of system breakdown. Those children often see how the failures of the system impact their homes. Trash left uncollected in barangays due to collection effort failures causes a build-up of trash in the home. Something so simple as a lack of public waste bins encourages littering. Poverty results in the ubiquitous use of plastic bags for children who don’t have a few extra pesos for the deposit on a returnable (and reusable) cola bottle. Like waves across the newly recognised oceans of plastic pollution in our seas, the ripple effect of broken systems can be seen by children and in turn, they can internalise a sense of hopelessness as an impediment to change the current realities

Often, because of lower incomes, many Filipino consumers are faced with making purchases that are the least expensive possible. Everything from cookies to cigarettes can be purchased individually or in smaller, individually wrapped packaging. Unfortunately these individual packages, typically wrapped in plastic, contribute to the overall pollution catastrophe felt in the cities and provinces. These are smaller, homegrown problems. But, what about global pollution concerns?

From whence cometh the wave; North America and the western world.

Canada Less than 10 per cent of plastic used in Canada gets recycled, according to the Canadian government, who said in a recent statement that Canadians will throw away an estimated $8.3 billion worth of plastic materials each year, by 2030, unless corrective measures are taken. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in early June that Canada will follow the lead of the European Union and ban single-use plastics as early as 2021. Is it too, little late for the Philippines? President Duterte recently made the news by suggesting he was ready to declare war on Canada if the country refused to accept the return of tonnage after tonnage of deceptively declared waste. Is 2021 too little too late, Mr. Trudeau?

Many would say there is no such thing as too little, too late, as opposed to doing nothing. Among those many are China, Malaysia, Vietnam and others who are no longer hospitable to the idea of accepting the West’s trash, even if it was President Duterte who got the headline and the sound bite expressing their collective frustrations.

Waste disposal as an item of a political dispute between Southeast Asian countries and the developed world has recently become more topical, with not only the Philippines but recently Malaysia demanding nations such as the United States, Japan, France, Canada, Australia, and Britain take back 3,000 tons of plastic waste.