AN international alliance formed to fight plastic waste around the world came out his week with a statement that should cause a great deal of concern among us Filipinos. The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) said about 90 percent of global marine litter comes from just ten rivers and over half the land-based plastic litter leaking into oceans originates from five Asian countries – China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.The alliance was formed by 28 founding companies last Wednesday – among them Proctor & Gamble, Kraft, Nestle, Unilever, and Henkel – which pledged to spend $1.5 billion over the next five years on waste collection infrastructure, developing technology for recycling and re-use of waste, educating governments and local communities, and cleaning up highly polluted areas.

PH at center of world pollution problem. (2019, January 21). Manila Bulletin, p. 6.