The plastic revolution

Did you know that plastic was originally invented to protect nature and wildlife? Prior to the invention of plastic, billiard balls were made from wild elephant tusks. Because of the sport’s growing popularity, a New York firm offered $10,000 for anyone who could find a suitable substitute for natural ivory. American industrialist and inventor John Wesley Hyatt, started experimenting and created the first synthetic polymer that was derived from cotton fiber with camphor.

Hyatt discovered a plastic, that he called celluloid, which could be molded into a variety of shapes and made to imitate natural substances like tortoise shell, horn, linen, and ivory. During the Second World War, a synthetic silk material called Nylon was used in parachutes and ropes, while an acrylic Plexiglas was used in airplane windows.

The plastics industry started manufacturing for homes in the post-war and post-depression economies. This made items cheaper and more accessible to more markets. Nylon, for example, took the place of silk stockings, while other companies started capitalizing on its ability to keep food fresher, longer, with items ranging from cling wrap to food containers made from plastic.

Beverages also started coming out in plastic containers, because it was a safer and more cost-efficient to use. There were less breakage issues, making the drinks easier to transport.

Plastics in the Philippines

Polyethylene terephthalate or PET bottles are commonly used in food and beverage packaging and considered one of the most valuable forms of plastic in the Philippines.

It is the most retrieved due to its high residual value – or its predicted value after consumption. A study conducted by global advocacy firm, McKinsey Center for Business and Environment, showed that the Philippines has one of the highest PET bottle recovery rates at 90 percent.

“Higher residual value plastics are more likely to be collected from disposal sites and then resold. This means that products or packaging with low residual value are less likely to be collected; they therefore become a particularly significant contributor to ocean plastic,” the study, entitled “Stemming the Tide: Land-based Strategies for a Plastic-free Ocean” said.

Of the total post-consumption plastic waste produced in the country, 80 percent are low residual value plastics composed of sachets and single-use plastic bags owing to the local retail industry’s sachet economy wherein products are packaged into single-use portions. These sachets are the ones posing a problem to the Philippine landfill and seas situation, as they are not as easily collected and recycled.

The Stemming the Tide study looks at solutions on mitigating the plastics problem that starts at the household and community levels, with waste collection and proper disposal as the first step towards saving the environment.

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