QUEZON CITY, (PIA) -- Environmental organizations and people's organizations belonging to the Plastic-Free Pilipinas Project (PFP) announced the launching of activities for the month-long celebration of Plastic Free Month this July.

The celebration aims to highlight the groups’ campaigns for a plastic-free lifestyle, and to urge lawmakers to pass sustainable and comprehensive waste management policies and safer practices that would reduce waste.

“During this Plastic-Free month, we are emphasizing our stand by saying NO to single-use plastics. To facilitate discourse on their adverse effects to public health and the environment, and to showcase healthier and environmentally-friendly alternatives to plastics, we also have free virtual discussions on plastics and food packaging safety with GAIA Asia Pacific and IPEN SEA; plastics and waste incineration with No Burn Pilipinas; Plastics and e-commerce with Greenpeace Philippines and The Climate Reality Project Philippines; and the ban on single-use plastics with Ecowaste Coalition,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator for EcoWaste Coalition.

The celebration also aims to inform the public on the threats of plastics to communities including webinars, crafting petitions, and staging protest actions for the 18th Congress to act immediately on laws that would protect the environment and refuse proposals that violate existing environmental laws such as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act and the Clean Air Act.

"A Plastic-Free country declaration must be enacted immediately by considering the environment and communities in all policies, decision making and implementation processes as well as ordinances that would hold individuals and corporations accountable of plastic pollution and waste crisis,” bared Rei Panaligan, National Coordinator for Plastic-Free Pilipinas Project (PFP).

“We are also calling on our communities to join us in pushing for systemic change and demanding corporations accountable including lobbying for better legislation, veering away from false solutions, and embracing a Zero Waste lifestyle,” he added.

The groups said that they are asking for the government's sincerity in addressing the plastic crisis and that there must be a comprehensive plan including actual strategies in mitigating the waste problem and disallow the funding of dirty energy projects such as waste-to-energy (WtE) incineration facilities.

“Unsafe energy projects, such as WtE facilities, require plastic as feedstock and thereby increase the incentive for greater waste generation. Moreover, such facilities release highly toxic chemicals such as dioxins and furans which endanger the health of citizens. Case studies from the United States and Europe clearly show that WTE facilities harm human health and the environment while generating very little energy,” said Lievj Alimangohan of No Burn Pilipinas.

“What we need are genuine, immediate, and long term plans and decisive actions that have broader goals of improving recycling practices and encouraging the private and public sectors to implement long-lasting solutions to the plastic waste crisis. Thus, we demand for urgent steps to safeguard our health and our country’s lands from further misuse. There are already existing and proven solutions in dealing with waste at the local level that do not require burning or incineration such as the Zero Waste approach,” added Archie Abellar of GAIA Asia Pacific.

The groups also demanded an Executive Order be issued immediately so that national agencies and LGUs will be compelled to take actions to stop the proliferation of single-use plastics, to regulate plastic production and to scrap waste-to-energy projects in communities including junking the pending bill on waste-to-energy incineration.

To recall, the Plastic-Free Pilipinas project is a collaboration of #breakfreefromplastic members EcoWaste Coalition, GAIA Asia Pacific, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, Health Care Without Harm Southeast Asia and Mother Earth Foundation. The #breakfreefromplastic is a global movement working towards a future free from plastic pollution. (PIA-NCR)