OZAMIZ CITY, Misamis Occidental (PIA) -- “If you want to quench your thirst, then use a tumbler; if grocery shopping, use an eco-bag or tote bag,” said Engr. Esmael Larubis, environmental sustainability officer, La Salle University, Ozamiz City, in a recent episode of Let’s Talk MisOcc on Earth Month, citing the importance of reducing plastic consumption to beat plastic pollution.

“We have already seen one of the effects of not taking good care of it, and we are experiencing at this time this very hot weather, a hot condition along with our environment, and somehow expect another extreme of our weather, so it may happen that by the next six months, there will be high rain within our province,” the professor said.

Plastic pollution is one of the unsolved problems here in the country and even in the world. “In one minute, we are processing about 1 million plastic bottles. If you want to talk about the plastic bags, we process about 5 trillion worldwide,” he said.

The earth is actually choking at this time with this plastic pollution if it is not properly managed, he stressed.

Plastic is a chain of chemical substances. Plastic bags begin as resin pellets of pure plastic that have been extracted from crude oil or cracked natural gas.

What is in plastic?

Every piece of plastic has a corresponding number on the back or bottom. “If you try to go with the products, when we try to analyze each and every product we have in the market, you can see signs on the front label or back portion, the recycled sign, the arrow sign with a responding number,” the professor said.

The corresponding number there entails what type of plastic that product is made of. Some major components or major chemicals are incorporated or chemically combined to generate plastic. For example, a shampoo bottle may have a number 3 or a number 4. For mineral water bottles, it can be composed of poly-ethynyl. Some have compositions of polyvinyl chloride and low-density polyethylene, and we have PP, or polypropylene.

But more than just those major components, there are what you call stabilizers so that they can meet the demanded property of a certain product and somehow enhance the quality of the plastic product, said the professor. The danger, however, he said, is that if the stabilizers are destabilized based on the condition of the plastic, it could be detrimental to health.

Implementing the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000

There are a lot of waste bottles, especially those that cannot be recycled, along with our household, the professor shared.

“If they abide by the laws and bylaws of RA 9003, or the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, then basically that one can already be of great help,” he said.

Among the helpful things anyone can do is to be conscious at home about proper waste disposal.

“If you know that that one is plastic, you have to place that one in a recyclable container and have it disposed of during the collection of the recyclable, or have it sold to the junk shops, so that is one way,” Engr. Larubis said.

Recycling is a way to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.

“You really have to take it as part of your life. It should be a package when you are living; there is a need that you should take part in when taking care of the environment,” he said. (JMOR/PIA-10/Misamis Occidental)