FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Brussels - June 4, 2021
The international movement of plastic-fighting NGO’s Break Free From Plastic reacts to the announcement of partnership between top plastic polluter Coca-Cola and The Ocean Cleanup: “If Coca-Cola really wants to solve their plastic bottle pollution, the company should support the introduction of Deposit Refund Systems worldwide and urgently reduce their plastic use as much as possible. The Ocean Cleanup is only an end-of-pipe intervention that will not stop the worldwide plastic pollution crisis which Coca-Cola is co-responsible for”, Corporate Campaigns Coordinator Emma Priestland says.
In a video on Twitter, Boyan Slat of Dutch company The Ocean Cleanup announced that Coca-Cola will be a so-called ‘implementation partner’ of their River Project. Over the next eighteen months they plan to roll out fifteen ‘interceptors’ in rivers worldwide. In the video, Slat mentioned that this cooperation was one of the hardest decisions he ever had to take.
For three years in a row, Coca-Cola has been listed as the biggest plastic polluter worldwide in the Brand Audits, a series of monitoring reports conducted by Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) based on hundreds of cleanups in over 50 countries and 6 continents.
“For years, we have been asking Coca-Cola to tackle their pollution at the source instead of at the end of the pipe. There is no need for cleanups if plastic bottles never reach the rivers or oceans. Deposit refund systems (DRS) achieve exactly that: they reduce the number of plastic bottles in nature by 70 to 90 percent according to a study commissioned by the Dutch authorities. It is time that Coca-Cola stops fighting deposit refund systems and starts implementing them,” says Rob Buurman, director of Dutch-Belgian environmental NGO Recycling Netwerk Benelux.
A deposit refund scheme is a system in which consumers pay a small deposit for beverage containers, which is refunded upon return to a shop. Such schemes are crucial to boost refillable bottles and are already up and running in 40 countries in the world, where collection and recycling rates of beverage containers are often above 90%. Coca-Cola has been fighting the introduction of DRS and other progressive legislation for decades, while promoting voluntary targets and false solutions, such as clean-ups.
While Coca-Cola claims to be committed to a ‘World Without Waste’, an independent investigation by the Changing Markets Foundation found that the company has also continuously broken, delayed or shifted the goalposts on most of its impressive-sounding voluntary targets for the last 30 years. In 1990, for example, the company committed to having 25% recycled content in their bottles, but 30 years later they are only at 10%.
“Prevention is better than cure. We will not settle for projects that are only intended to create a better image for multinationals. We want real solutions that prevent Coca-Cola’s bottles, cans and pouches ending up in the rivers, seas and oceans in the first place. Therefore, we demand that Coca-Cola fully supports the introduction of deposit refund systems for their beverage containers and urge them to make a decisive shift to refillables, in every country in the world”, Break Free From Plastic concludes.
About the Break Free From Plastic Movement
Break Free From Plastic is a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in 2016, more than 11,000 organizations and individual supporters from across the world have joined the movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and to push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. BFFP member organizations and individuals share the common values of environmental protection and social justice, and work together through a holistic approach in order to bring about systemic change under the #breakfreefromplastic core pillars. This means tackling plastic pollution across the whole plastics value chain - from extraction to disposal – focusing on prevention rather than cure and providing effective solutions.
ENDS
Press contact:
Lys Mehou-Loko, European Communications Officer - Break Free From Plastic
lys@breakfreefromplastic.org
Rob Buurman, Executive Director - Recycling Netwerk Benelux +31616401040
rob.buurman@recyclingnetwerk.org
Emma Priestland, Corporate Campaigns Coordinator - Break Free From Plastic
emma@breakfreefromplastic.org
Quezon City, Philippines— Civil society groups, informal waste workers associations, faith-based institutions, trade unions, academe and community-based organizations from all over the country called for the withdrawal of Senate Bill No. 1789, also known as the “Waste-to-Energy Act” authored by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.
In a letter sent to the Senate members of the 18th Congress and signed by over 100 organizations, the groups said they are seriously concerned about the harm that Waste-to-Energy (“WtE”) technologies and facilities pose to human health, the environment, and to the economic standing of local government units.
“WtE facilities are ineffective solutions to deal with waste. Scientific studies clearly show that incineration processes in WtE facilities emit significant quantities of direct greenhouse gases, and are sources of indirect greenhouse gases including large amounts of dioxins and furans,” the groups said.
According to Atty. Gob Alimangohan of EcoWaste Coalition, allowing WtE incineration prevents the country from pursuing solutions that conserve resources, protect health and which do not harm the climate.
“WtE technologies and facilities are false solutions that will cause more harm than good. The claims that these facilities are safe, effective and economically beneficial are inaccurate. There are scientific studies and illustrative cases from all over the world that show that WtE facilities harm human health, damage the environment and are ruinously expensive to maintain. In addition to these direct harms, these technologies also create a false narrative about the appropriate responses to waste management and take away necessary support for actual sustainable solutions,” he said.
Currently, incineration is prohibited under the Clean Air Act and Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. If approved, the bill will only benefit the plastics industry and foreign waste management companies, the groups said.
“WtE incinerators are a convenient excuse for plastic polluters to avoid accountability for dealing with the worsening toxic pollution associated with their products,” Ecowaste Coalition National Coordinator Aileen Lucero said.
“Instead of championing harmful and quick-fix solutions like waste-to-energy incinerators, perhaps Senator Gatchalian could champion a bill that would ban single-use and other disposable plastic packaging and products,” she added.
The groups said that there are viable solutions instead of misleading the minds of the public to accept the proposed bill. They stressed that municipalities and barangays in the country are successfully practicing zero-waste in accordance with RA 9003 which is a circular system that minimizes unnecessary extraction and consumption, reduces waste, and ensures that products and materials are reused or recycled back into nature or into the market.
# # #
For more information, please contact:
Geri Matthew Carretero
Communications Officer
geri@breakfreefromplasticph.org
Cebu City, Philippines – As the Asian Development Bank (ADB) convenes for its 54th Annual Meeting with the theme “Collaboration for Resilient and Green Recovery,” environment and climate activists and informal waste pickers in Cebu, Philippines affiliated under Sanlakas, No Burn Pilipinas, and EcoWaste Coalition staged a symbolic wreath laying protest action in the controversial and foreclosed Barangay Inayawan Sanitary Landfill to demand the withdrawal of ADB on all WtE incinerator projects in the city.
“The ADB is engaged in doublespeak calling for resilience and green recovery amidst the pandemic while actively promoting WtE incineration, particularly in Cebu by granting a Technical Assistance (TA) project to the Cebu City Government that paves the way for the establishment of incineration projects in the city despite a clear prohibition in the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 (Republic Act 8749) banning incineration to treat municipal, biomedical, and hazardous wastes,” according to Auxilium Olayer, a member of the EcoWaste National Executive Committee.
Barangay Inayawan Sanitary Landfill was the original site for the ADB-funded WTE project but was forestalled due to legal and technical issues. Through a Writ of Kalikasan, the Court of Appeals ordered a complete landfill rehabilitation pursuant to EMB standards. There were also different land claimants to a part of the barangay where the project is to be established. These project issues show that WTE projects increase existing environmental and social vulnerabilities because of the lack of government regulations and capacity to ensure community health standards, land use management and meaningful consultations on the ground.
While protests were staged in the ADB-funded project site in Barangay Inayawan on wastepicker displacements, environmental and community and safety issues, the ADB has expressed continued funding for WtE. In a live online meeting with civil society on the first day of the ADB’s annual meeting, Hemanthana Winthanage, International Coordinator of NGO Forum on ADB asked the ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. ”Can ADB show real climate leadership by excluding thermal waste-to-energy from all its financing instruments?” to which the ADB President responded that WTE is an option and is also likely to continue depending on the results of the new ADB energy policy. WtE provides opportunities for integrated cross-sectoral projects.
More displacements of waste pickers
Informal waste pickers in Barangay Inayawan have been displaced as a result of the permanent closure of the city owned Inayawan Sanitary Landfill emanating from the Writ of Kalikasan decision of the Court of Appeals on December 15, 2016, later affirmed by the Philippine Supreme Court. These informal waste pickers have existing organizations but were never integrated into the city’s waste management system nor provided with adequate assistance to cope up with their loss of livelihood.
The ADB PFS recommends to subject to further investigation the health status of individuals involved with waste picking. The PFS describes the waste picking community in Barangay Inayawan as “highly vulnerable to any changes in the status quo”. Advocates believe that the ADB support on the WtE project will magnify existing economic displacements.
Environmental and social risks
Despite a standing ban on incinerators in the Philippines, the ADB technical assistance pursued the development of a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) of solid waste management Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in Cebu City in 2018. It included a menu of waste treatment options, all incineration and thermal-based technologies, such as incineration with energy recovery (no pre-treatment); mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) bio-drying followed by incineration; and MBT bio-drying followed by solid waste recovered fuel (STF) to cement kilns.
The same study identified potential environmental and socials risks and impacts associated with the above-mentioned waste treatment options including hazardous air emissions containing particulate matter, acidic gases, dioxins and other unknown toxic substances which may have potential health implications from incorrect operation or maintenance of equipment; land contamination from incorrect disposal of bottom ash or air pollution control residues; loss of livelihood by formal and informal sector; poor local acceptance of technology; and nuisance odour from bio-drying if not operated or maintained correctly.
The risks and impacts enumerated in this ADB-funded PFS corroborates with the findings of experts that all thermal waste to energy technologies produce poisonous and toxic substances, such as particulate matter, toxic metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and polychlorinated dioxins and furans which are among the most toxic chemical substances known to science.
Communities and waste pickers need to be consulted on the risks and to their livelihoods and community health. ADB safeguards on meaningful consultation, pollution mitigation and community health standards must apply in all of its projects ” Olayer, also a senior official of Sanlakas in Cebu, further added that anything less than an exclusion of WtE incineration from ADB policies will not promote resilience and recovery from the current pandemic as communities with pre-existing health conditions already suffering from the impacts of badly mismanaged private landfills will experience more vulnerabilities if this ADB-initiated WtE incineration plant pushes through in Cebu City or in other parts of the Cebu Island.
The protest action is part of the global civil society demand led by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) and the wider climate movement for ADB to divest from WTE projects and stop urging the developing member countries to pursue thermal-based technologies of energy conversion from waste, including the provision of technical assistance in Asia due to its proven health, social, environmental, and climate risks.
In a letter signed by 53 international, regional, and national organizations, GAIA has raised its demands ahead of the ADB meeting, to exclude WtE incineration and other thermal-based technology from ADB Energy Policy and all its climate and green investment policies and financing instruments. It also demanded for the review of the environmental and social safeguards implementation in all WtE incineration projects including technical assistance projects in the Philippines that are currently paving the way for establishing incineration projects with the private sector despite existing national law banning all forms of incinerations.
“ADB’s response on WtE will delay the achievement of our climate goals and even post-pandemic recovery in the region. We demand ADB to stop wasting public resources and empowering polluters in the guise of climate action”, says Yobel Putra, GAIA Asia Pacific Climate Clean Energy Campaigner.
Sanlakas, No Burn Pilipinas, and EcoWaste Coalition are members and affiliates of GAIA calling for the withdrawal of WtE incinerators supported by the Break Free From Plastics Project in the Philippines.
_______________________________________________________________________
Contact Persons: (on-site) Auxilium Olayer, EcoWaste Coalition & Sanlakas: 09156228999 (off-site) Lito Vasquez, EcoWaste Coalition/Break Free From Plastic PH Project: 09551805627 (for additional information on ADB involvement in the proposed WtE projects in Cebu, Philippines
MANILA/JAKARTA/BANGKOK/NEW DELHI (April 29, 2021) --- Single-use beverage containers are rapidly displacing refillable systems in many parts of the world and resulting in massive increases in wastage and pollution, according to a new landmark report by international non-profit organisation Reloop[1}, which was released in a media briefing together with Changing Markets and #breakfreefromplastic.
According to the report, What We Waste, beverage container sales have practically doubled between 1999 and 2019 across 93 countries worldwide [2]. Over the same 20-year period, the proportion sold in PET plastic has also more than doubled -- from 17% to 41% - resulting in a corresponding spike in wastage especially in countries which saw an increasing rise in sales of single-use plastics or one-way containers. Furthermore, the data from the report indicates that countries with greater market share for refillables had lower wastage figures.
However, the market share for refillables has consistently shrunk over time, Of the 93 countries cited in the report, the 10 countries with the highest usage of refillables in 2019 have experienced a sharp decline in refillable market share down from 60% to 29% over the last 20 years.
In Asia, the largest contributor to these numbers is China, whose refillable market share dropped from 52% in 1999 to 22% in 2019 despite its stronger than average refillable sector. Other countries in the region like India, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam have also experienced a sharp decline in refillable market share over the previous 20 years.
What We Waste draws on data from 93 countries to establish the decline in refillable drinks containers over the past 20 years. The report also gives for the first time a comprehensive understanding of the positive impact of deposit return systems (DRS) (4) on reducing drinks container wastage. It outlines how these systems can reduce waste and divert materials from being littered, landfilled, or incinerated. The report also recommends governments to protect and expand the refillable market share in the beverage sector in order to avoid worsening the plastic pollution crisis as well as institutionalize real recycling programs to avoid wastage especially on recyclable materials like metal cans and glass.
The What We Waste Report includes specific information on how refillable and DRS have reduced waste generation (whether plastic, glass, or metal) in some countries. The data, however, can be applied to estimate the effect of changes to refillable market share in a given country, and to see the effect of changing national recycling rates on wastage, especially in countries where no such data is publicly available.
For example, if the entire Southeast Asia region had the same refillable market share as that of the Philippines, (highest in the region), about 15.4 billion plastic bottles could be avoided from ending up in landfills or dumpsites, burned in incinerators, or otherwise polluting the environment.
Clarissa Morawski, CEO and co-founder of Reloop, said: "In most Asian countries, the crucial next step policy-makers should consider will be how to support existing refillable markets, and to consider how to expand them, with the right regulation and incentives. Every single percentage point of market share that switches to refillables across the region will substantially reduce wastage. This same infrastructure can also, in time, be developed into full deposit return systems to capture those remaining non-refillable cans and bottles."
Von Hernandez, Global Coordinator of Break Free from Plastic, said: “The future is not disposable and plastic pollution is not inevitable. In countries like China, India, Vietnam and the Philippines, where there is still a significant market share for refillables, governments must provide the right policy signals not only to protect what’s left of the refillable sector but to expand and bring it back to a position of dominance. Companies that produce ever-increasing amounts of plastic pollution should be held accountable, while systems that avoid plastic waste must be encouraged and strongly supported. This is the kind of direction required to reverse the plastic pollution crisis and avert catastrophic climate change.”
Shania Cheng, Coordinator of Plastic-Free China, said: “As part of the government’s effort to curb wastage from single-use plastics, it should look at instituting deposit return schemes in order to preserve and expand the markets for refillables. Instead of promoting problematic alternatives that result in more wastage, the government can invest more in this type of proven alternative solution.”
Watch the full media launch here
END
CONTACT:
Jed Alegado
Senior Communications Officer for Asia Pacific
jed@breakfreefromplastic.org
+(63) 917 607 0248
Notes:
1. The datasets used include proprietory sales information purchased from GlobalData, which Reloop is unable to publish directly: however, publication of information which combines that data with other datasets, e.g. recycling rates, is permitted. The sales data available covers 93 countries, including all G20 countries and more than 80% of the world's population, although recycling data is only available for a subset of 34 countries, including America, Canada, most of Europe, plus PET-only information for some Asian countries. More information about GlobalData is available here: https://www.globaldata.com
2. Reloop is an international non-profit organisation that brings together industry, government and NGOs into a broad network that seeks to bring about positive change at all levels of resource and waste policy.
https://www.reloopplatform.org/
3. The report is available here: https://www.reloopplatform.org/what-we-waste/
4. Like refillables, deposit return systems rely on consumers paying a small deposit which is refunded in full when the can or bottle is returned. Unlike refillables, these systems collect for recycling rather than reuse, and typically operate at a national or state/provincial level, although many countries in this dataset use the same collection infrastructure for both systems.
5. The first table shows the top 10 Asian countries by total refillables sold (2019).
6. The second table shows the top 10 Asian countries by refillable market share (2019).
About Changing Markets | www.changingmarkets.org | @ChangingMarkets
The Changing Markets Foundation was formed to accelerate and scale-up solutions to sustainability challenges by leveraging the power of markets. Working in partnership with NGOs, other foundations and research organisations we are keen to explore effective solutions to the plastic pollution crisis.
About Break Free From Plastic | www.breakfreefromplastic.org/ | @brkfreefromplastic
The #breakfreefromplastic Movement is a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in 2016, more than 11,000 organizations and individual supporters from across the world have joined the movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and to push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. Break Free From Plastic runs the #WeChooseReuse campaign, calling for a global shift towards refillable and reusable products.
About Reloop | https://www.reloopplatform.org/ | @reloop_platform
Reloop is an international non-profit organisation that brings together industry, government and NGOs into a broad network that seeks to bring about positive change at all levels of resource and waste policy.
Hong Kong/Philippines/Tokyo/Dhaka/New Delhi (April 22, 2021) --- On Earth Day (April 22), the Heinrich Böll Foundation, the Break Free From Plastic movement, and Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) published the Asia English edition of the Plastic Atlas. The special edition of Plastic Atlas highlights the large and rapidly growing role of Asian economies as plastic producers, consumers, contributors to the plastic refuse deluge, and dumping ground for the world’s plastic waste. The publication also focuses on particular challenges facing the region, along with potential solutions.
Currently, over half of the plastic produced globally originated from Asia. The region has also become a major destination of plastic waste trade, where South and Southeast Asia emerge to become hotspots. The Plastic Atlas Asia edition highlights Asia’s growing role and impact on plastic production, consumption, and disposal since the post-war period.
With overconsumption exacerbated by the COVID -19 pandemic, the Atlas also highlights the surge of single-use plastics more recently and how the oil and gas industry plans to ramp up production in the coming years. Further, the publication also explains that recycling is not the solution to the plastic crisis, an idea which has been widely promoted by governments and corporations.
Clemens Kunze, Deputy Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation Hong Kong office and Executive Editor of the Plastic Atlas Asia Edition, said: “Since 99% of all plastics are made of fossil fuels and produce enormous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions along the entire lifecycle of plastic, it is clear that the solutions to the plastic and climate crisis need to go hand in hand. The petrochemical industry is planning a massive expansion of the plastic production infrastructure to flood the global market with yet more waste and toxics. Through the Plastic Atlas, we hope to show our collective responsibilities as people of this region and call on governments and corporations to proactively find ways to lead us out of this crisis.”
Satyarupa Shekhar, Break Free From Plastic Asia Pacific Coordinator, stated: “Asia plays a significant role in the plastic pollution crisis. This joint publication is envisioned to show the root causes of the problem in the region and tackle the deluge of plastic waste due to the COVID-19 pandemic, debunk the myth behind recycling as a panacea, and present the case for transforming communities to become zero waste as the ecological solution to the plastic pollution crisis.”
There are already communities across Asia adopting zero waste practices as a way to reduce and minimise plastic waste produced. The atlas looks at the potential of bottom-up efforts in resolving the plastic crisis. The upscaling requires further efforts from national governments and other stakeholders.
A launch event for a photo exhibition “Journey to the Waste” was also held today (April 22) at FabCafe HK (G/F., 10 New Street, Sheung Wan). The exhibit showcases winning entries from our recent photo contest, and is organized to raise awareness of plastic pollution in Asia ahead of our new Plastic Atlas publication.
A media briefing was organized today (April 22) that serves as a deep dive conversation on the current impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the hardfought gains made on single-use plastics
The Plastic Atlas Asia edition contains 45 detailed infographics covering a broad range of topics regarding the plastic pollution crisis looking along the entire value chain of plastic. It is a unique contribution to the cause, as these will help people grasp the impacts through the use of data-rich infographics focusing on the region.
Contact:
Jed Alegado
Senior Communications Officer for Asia Pacific
Break Free From Plastic
+63 917 6070248
NOTES:
Download the full Plastic Atlas: https://hk.boell.org/en/plasticatlasasia
Watch the press launch recording: Topic: Plastic Pandemic: A deep dive session on the impacts of COVID-19 on single-use plastics
About hbs
Heinrich Böll Stiftung (hbs) is a non-profit green think tank, which is a part of the global Green movement. Based in Berlin, Germany, hbs has a network of over 30 offices around the world. In 2019, it opened a new regional office in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong office hosts the Asia Global Dialogue programme and supports research, analysis, and publications on transformative trends in Asia. Find out more: https://hk.boell.org/en
About Break Free From Plastic
#breakfreefromplastic is a global movement envisioning a future free from plastic pollution. Since its launch in September 2016, nearly 1,800 organizations from across the world have joined the movement to demand massive reductions in single-use plastics and to push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis. These organizations share the common values of environmental protection and social justice, which guide their work at the community level and represent a global, unified vision. Sign up at www.breakfreefromplastic.org.
In a letter addressed to the Bank, the groups called on ADB to exclude waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration and other thermal-based technologies from the list of renewable energy sources and climate mitigation activities in its Energy Policy and other financial instruments. They recommended ADB to align itself with government-led climate action commitments made during the Climate Ambition Summit 2020.
“There is no reason why international financial institutions (IFIs) like the ADB should classify WtE incinerators as climate mitigation. Science and experience show that these dirty, waste-of-energy machines are contributing to global warming as much as fossil fuel-based sources of energy, and are causing harmful effects on human health,“ Froilan Grate, GAIA Asia Pacific Regional Coordinator, said. “The ADB has been ignoring scientific evidence, government policies, and community sentiments critical to WtE incineration.”
The letter, sent ahead of the ADB’s major policy review processes on energy and safeguards on 8 March 2021, was facilitated by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. It was signed by non-profit organizations and social movements such as GAIA, Greenpeace, Oceana, Center for International Law , Zero Waste Europe, —all members of the global movement Break Free From Plastic— and International Accountability Project, 350.org Asia, NGO Forum on ADB, and regional and national Zero Waste movements.
The ADB is undertaking major revisions in two of its policies—Energy Policy and the Safeguard Policy Statement—that will impact on the region’s immediate needs to both recover sustainably and act on the climate crisis. Aside from demanding ADB to divest from WtE incineration, the groups are also calling for better implementation of ADB’s social and environmental safeguard standards in developing member countries such as Maldives and the Philippines, where WtE incineration projects are underway.
ADB’s so-called “clean energy” financing in the last decade is valued at over $23 billion. The portfolio includes WtE incineration, which has been excluded in the latest EU Taxonomy Report—a listing of economic activities that are considered “'sustainable finance.” WtE incineration has low resource efficiency and high loss in economic value of potentially recyclable materials.
Under the ADB Strategy 2030, the Bank committed to shifting 75%of its operations towards supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as providing $80 billion for climate financing, by 2030.
“The growing interest in making recovery packages stimulating not only for the economy but also for the environment is a welcome progress in addition to the increasing number of green funding mechanisms. But we should be prudent in identifying which green activities deserve incentives and public guarantees as we are currently facing multiple crises,” Grate said.
The groups asserted that WtE incineration is not an efficient source of energy. Waste in developing countries have a high moisture content which reduces the energy recovery efficiency of waste incineration.
They added that WtE projects pose irreversible and long-term fiscal, environmental and social risks for ADB and its borrowing countries which are already saddled by recovery loans. The letter outlined these risks.
The letter also debunked WtE as a climate mitigation activity, saying that on the contrary, it is a hindrance toward decarbonization. It cited experiences of the European Union and the United States showing WTE incinerators’ contributions to GHG emissions.
The letter also highlighted that the graver and long-term consequences are externalized by communities and the environment for generations. “WtE incineration burn various materials which contain hazardous and toxic content such as heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and brominated polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHS) which are proven to cause neoplasia, congenital anomalies, infant deaths and miscarriage, cancer, and other life-threatening illnesses,“ the letter stated.
To date, ADB has not responded to the letter.
GAIA is mounting a series of protests in the region toward a Global Day of Action (GDA) on March 31 with Zero Waste advocates, climate justice movements, and communities affected by WtE incineration projects.
Waste pickers and workers are also joining the GDA to call for better representation in consultation processes involving solid waste management and incineration projects because of the latter’s impact on livelihoods and work spaces. A full list of demands can be found here.
This year’s GDA carries the theme #BeyondRecovery to challenge world leaders to do more than just recover from the devastating impacts of its single economic growth-driven models without considering the environmental and social consequences of policy and investment decisions.
It is a day to call on IFIs to divest from incinerators and invest in local solutions in its recovery plans, and on governments to put communities first by being fully transparent and inclusive with regards to how taxes are being spent in this time of crises, not least by ensuring that meaningful consultations are held with civil society and affected communities early on in the process of developing recovery roadmaps and legislations.
Link to the full letter https://www.no-burn.org/wp-
For more information, please contact:
Sonia Astudillo, GAIA Asia Pacific Communications Officer sonia@no-burn.org, +63 917 5969286
About GAIA:
GAIA is a worldwide alliance of more than 800 grassroots groups, non-governmental organisations, and individuals in over 90 countries. The organisation works to catalyse a global shift towards environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance solutions to waste and pollution.
The Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Center) launched its report on plastic waste yesterday with a webinar featuring a panel of experts, with the report and panel concluding that there needs to be more transparent and stringent laws governing waste and recycling to preserve human rights, health and the environment from local and transboundary plastic waste.
The report, titled “Malaysia is not a “Garbage Dump”: Citizens against, corruption, complacency, crime, and climate crisis”, delves into the illegality surrounding plastic recycling in Malaysia, how it occurred, and the implications on the peoples’ right to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.
A policy brief was developed from selected findings of the full report focussing on good governance in the global plastic waste trade, which was the theme of the webinar. Some of the recommendations from the policy brief were discussed by the panelists during the webinar, such as prioritising local plastic waste management over export (for exporting countries), full compliance to the Basel Convention and enhancing participatory multi-stakeholder engagements to tackle the illegal waste trade. The complete list of recommendations in the policy brief is available for download.
The webinar was co-organised with Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), and was moderated by Kiu Jia Yaw, co-deputy chairperson of the environment and climate change committee of the Malaysian Bar. It featured both local and international speakers, with former MESTECC minister Yeo Bee Yin, SAM honorary secretary Mageswari Sangaralingam, and Greenpeace Malaysia campaigner Heng Kiah Chun sharing Malaysia’s experience as a destination for imported plastic waste.
Yeo shared her experience as MESTECC minister in addressing the impacts and challenges of Malaysia as a country that imports plastic waste, and her recommendations to the global community on the problems of transboundary plastic waste. Mageswari spoke about the importance of working with international partners to find solutions, and Heng shared his experience with tracking plastic waste shipments.
“We should check if there are international syndicates that are profiting from the subsidies of developed governments, but are instead dumping the waste in developing countries,” said Yeo.
Sirine Rached, global policy advocate for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Jane Bremmer, campaign coordinator for National Toxics Network Australia, and James Sweeney, head of sector illicit trade, health & environment operations and investigations for the European Anti-Fraud Office, represented interested international bodies. They spoke about the Basel Convention and its loopholes, the impact of the export of refuse-derived fuels from Australia, and the importance of coordination and intelligence-sharing, respectively.
“One of our aims here was to link the climate crisis, environmental governance with the entire area of anti-corruption, of accountable governance, and access to information,” said C4 Center executive director Cynthia Gabriel.
“The webinar enabled the participants to better understand the legal and illegal transboundary trade in plastic waste, and the loopholes in regulating the supply chains. The panellists recommended solutions such as source reduction, full disclosure, traceability and transparency of plastic waste shipments, and called on developed countries to ban the export of plastic waste to prevent dumping, of which we will continue to advocate,” said SAM honorary secretary Mageswari.
The webinar garnered interest locally and internationally with over 1,700 viewers, with participants posting over 30 questions to the panellists. Further events will be held to disseminate other findings from the report.
The following can be downloaded at their respective links.
Released by:
Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4 Center)
For further enquiries, please contact 012-379 2189 / 03-7660 5140
QUEZON CITY, Philippines, 19 March 2021 - Members of the #BreakFreeFromPlastic movement today renewed the call for the government to impose a nationwide ban on single-use plastics to mandate corporations to end dependence on single-use plastics. The call came following the release of the Philippine version of the 2020 Brand Audit Report [1], which found that only three corporations are responsible for nearly 50 percent of the country’s plastic waste.
According to the report, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies Universal Robina Corporation (URC), Nestle, and Colgate-Palmolive were the top three corporate plastic polluters in 2020. The three corporations’ packaging waste accounts for 46 percent of the total of 38,580 plastic items [2] collected: 6,350 for URC, 6,168 for Nestle, and 5,580 for Colgate-Palmolive [3].
“The local results of the 2020 brand audit show not only the extent of the plastic pollution that local communities have to deal with, but more importantly, they also reveal the faces behind the pollution: corporations that until now have refused to own up to their responsibility by peddling false solutions to the plastic problem, and remain opaque in their plastics reporting,” Greenpeace Campaigner Jefferson Chua said. “These corporations have been consistent top polluters as well for the past two years [4], and have done nothing substantial to tackle plastic reduction at its source. Instead, they pursue programs that unfairly pass the responsibility to consumers.”
The report also revealed that an alarming 91 percent of the total collected plastics were non-recyclables, such as sachets, which have no economic value to incentivize collection and which cannot be managed sustainably. The groups said that this figure proves that recent efforts by FMCGs to boost their so-called recycling efforts are completely useless in addressing plastic pollution in the Philippines.
The groups also raised concern over companies’ continued reliance on false solutions to the plastic problem rather than investing on measures to phase out plastic production. This includes replacement of plastic straws for equally disposable items such as paper and bioplastics, recycling and plastic exchange schemes, and resorting to harmful practices such as incineration.
The #BreakFreeFromPlastic Movement views the passage of a comprehensive Single-Use Plastic Ban as an essential policy tool to stop plastic pollution by shifting corporate dependence on throwaway packaging models to more sustainable to more sustainable reuse and refill systems.
Patricia Nicdao, Policy and Advocacy Officer of EcoWaste Coalition said: “With a deluge of single-use plastic wastes created by corporations, what Filipinos need are real and urgent solutions to this plastic crisis. We can no longer afford any more excuses and delays. While individuals and Local Government Units are doing their part, the 18th Congress needs to step up its efforts by passing a comprehensive law banning single-use plastics in the Philippines. This policy can significantly advance other local efforts to preserve and protect our environment.”
Likewise, they advocate the use and mainstreaming of alternative delivery systems such as refilling stations and other workable community-based solutions that aim to move away from single-use, throwaway business models that currently dominate the market.
The report is available for download here.
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[1] Brand Audits are citizen-led actions that involve counting, analyzing, and documenting different types of plastics, their brands, and their respective recyclability. Brand Audits are globally-coordinated events where the Philippines has been a pioneering participant since 2017.
[2] The wastes were collected in Bohol, NCR, and Davao with partner groups EcoWaste Coalition, Greenpeace, Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS), and Project Mariknows.
[3] Aside from the aforementioned three, other brands also figured as top polluters: Mayora Indah (3,869), Unilever (2,922), Procter & Gamble (2,622), Monde Nissin Corporation (1,420), Nutri-Asia, Inc. (1,067), Liwayway Holdings (1,022), and Jbc Food Corporation (662). Other plastics collected either were from other brands or were unbranded, such as plastic labo.
[4] In the 2019 edition of the Brand Audit, Nestle and URC figured in the top three as well, with URC also showing up in the 2018 edition.
Media contacts:
Angeli Cantillana
Communications Campaigner, Greenpeace Southeast Asia – Philippines
angeli.cantillana@greenpeace.
Geri Matthew Carretero
Communications Officer, Break Free From Plastic Philippines Project
geri@breakfreefromplasticph.
Da Nang, March 11, 2021 - A recent report shows Coca Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestle as the top 3 plastic polluters in Vietnam. This is according to the Vietnam Waste Assessment and Brand Audit Report (2018-2020) published by Vietnam Zero Waste Alliance (VZWA) and its member organizations.
The findings were based on several waste audits conducted in 8 coastal areas, including 12 hotels, 9 restaurants, 2 schools, and 6 tour boats. The waste audits, which accounted for 16,730kg and 108,787 liters of waste, showed that over 80% of Vietnam’s municipal waste can be recycled or composted. Half of the remaining waste fraction are plastic bags and plastic packaging.
The report likewise shows that plastic bags account for 36% of Vietnam’s plastic waste. On average, a Vietnamese citizen uses more than one plastic bag per day. Other plastic waste found in the waste audits were takeaway containers, hard plastic containers, PET bottles, and disposable diapers.
Dr. Quach Thi Xuan, the country coordinator of VZWA, shared that Vietnam is currently labelled as among the top 5 countries that is leaking plastic pollution to oceans. “We cannot solve plastic problems by focusing solely on waste treatment solutions. It is time to look at the waste sources and lock the plastic valve to prevent pollution.”
Through this report, VZWA proposes a roadmap for banning single-use plastic products based on several criteria of the National Action Partnership Program on Plastics in Vietnam 2020 (NPAP).
Satyarupa Shekhar, the BFFP Asia Pacific Coordinator endorsed the VZWA findings and recommendations saying that, “Citizen science has revealed powerful evidence of who the real polluters are, and the Vietnam brand audit results serve to underscore the need to hold them accountable. Year on year, citizens across the world have found the same businesses appearing on the Top Polluters list, but they continue to manufacture them with impunity. It is time to bring in policies that enable a meaningful systems change to counter the industry’s license to disregard their impacts on people’s health and the environment.”
The waste audit also showed that the amount of plastic consumed per resident was four times less in Cu Lao Cham, a rural island community, where a plastic ban is in effect, compared with Ha Long City, a relatively wealthy, mid-sized city with no such bans enacted. Audits were conducted at Cu Lao Cham twice (in 2019 and 2020), further verifying this result. Likewise, these findings validate calls to phase out non-essential plastic items in Vietnam.
The Vietnam Waste Assessment and Brand Audit Report in 2018-2020 was conducted in 8 coastal areas (Ha Long, Nam Dinh, Da Nang, Sa Huynh, Cu Lao Cham, Hoi An, Phu Yen and Cat Ba) by VZWA and its members: GreenHub, GreenViet, Sungco, MCD Vietnam, and Cham Islands MPA.
Vietnam Zero Waste Alliance (VZWA) is a grassroots alliance of concerned organizations and citizens that share the goal of applying zero waste practices to better manage solid waste, reduce plastics, save natural resources, and protect the environment of Vietnam. VZWA members are non-profit groups, government entities, universities, and businesses.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Quach Thi Xuan, Country Coordinator, Vietnam Zero Waste Alliance (VZWA)
quachthixuan@gmail.com
Jed Alegado, Senior Communications Officer, Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) Asia Pacific
jed@breakfreefromplastic.org I +63 917 6070248
Sonia Astudillo, Communications Officer, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Asia Pacific
sonia@no-burn.org I +63 917 5969286
Manila, Philippines—Various environmental organizations will join hands on March 6, 2021 (Saturday) at 5pm in a live virtual concert titled Artists for Clean Air to call on the country’s top legislators to scrap the Waste-to-Energy Bill and UPHOLD the Clean Air Act.
Spearheaded by the EcoWaste Coalition, No Burn Pilipinas, and Break Free From Plastic PH project together with artists, and other advocacy groups, the concert will feature performances from musicians including the calls and demands of community members, barangay leaders, and environmental advocates who are concerned with the legalization of burning waste citing that doing so would violate the country’s key environmental laws.
The Philippine 18th Congress is set to enact a legislation that would allow waste incineration as proposed in the Senate Bill 1789 otherwise known as the Waste-to-Energy Act authored by Senator Win Gatchalian saying that this is a more sustainable power generation and waste management system.
The groups are hoping that the government will reconsider its stand on the proposal and find other sustainable means to solve the garbage problem such as the implementation of Zero Waste programs by recycling, composting, and reuse to help decrease the volume of trash sent to landfills
They are also urging and asking for support from different communities, cities, and local government units to join their petition and to refuse Waste-to-Energy incineration facility proposals in their areas.
To watch the live concert on March 6, 2021, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/EWCoalition
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For more information, please contact:
EcoWaste Coalition
info@ecowastecoalition.org
Break Free From Plastic PH Project
info@breakfreefromplasticph.org
