To avert the worst occurence that the country’s ocean will become a “virtual desert” by 2050 if plastic pollution continues, Senator Cynthia A. Villar wants to stop all types of single-plastic use.
The senator, who will retain the chairmanship of the Senate environment and natural resources committee in the 18th Congress, raised alarm over the results of the study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UNFAO) that sooner there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean.
“The fish will eat all the plastic and they will all die,” Villar said quoting the UNFAO.
Acting to curb plastic pollution in the country, Villar filed Senate Bill No. 333 or the Single-Use Plastic Product Regulation Act of 2019.
The proposed measure seeks to regulate the manufacturing, importation, and use of single-use plastic products.
The enactment of the bill, Villar said, is urgent in the face of a study showing the Philippines as the world’s third largest producer of plastic wastes that end up in the oceans.
“With our dependence in agriculture, plastic pollution also poses a grave threat in our food security. Disaster risks and hazards arising from plastic pollution may put farms at risk of flooding resulting in wastage of agricultural products along with its threats to a balanced ecology,” she said.
“Micro plastics leaked in our bodies of water may also put public health at risk as it gets into our food chain,” added Villar.
