According to a recent study conducted by Plastic Polluters, “The Philippines disposes more plastic waste into the ocean than any other country, with 3.3kg per person every year.” Meanwhile, the World Bank reported that the Philippines generated a staggering 2.7 million tons of plastic waste annually.
In this alarming situation, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) believes that it is important to educate and mobilize the youth to curb plastic pollution and strengthen the fight against the use of plastic. Hence, DENR, in partnership with SM Supermalls and other private and public sectors, launched the Earth Day Every Day Project last April 22, 2024, at SM MOA Music Hall.
Earth Day Every Day Project is a plastics collection competition among students nationwide. It is designed to engage the youth on the importance of recycling plastics and to foster a culture of environmental responsibilities in line with the values of scouting.
In an exclusive interview with Manila Bulletin Lifestyle, DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga said that launching this program is part of the agency’s approach to educating the youth to become agents of change and making them realize that taking care of our environment is a civic duty.
“The youth are the solution bearers for this generation. They will be the change agents,” Sec. Loyzaga said. “The biggest push for us is to engage [the youth]. I don’t think we’ve had a DENR before that has developed a strategy to engage the youth, not just on an individual level, but what we want to do is to approach institution. Environmental management is a civic duty and that's what we're trying to instill.”
Under the Earth Day Every Day Project, students may bring the plastics they have collected to designated SM Supermalls collection facilities in the cities of Pasay, Marikina, Pasig, Manila, Quezon City, Bulacan, Pampanga, Cavite, Cebu, and Davao every first Friday and Saturday of the month.
Points will be assigned according to the type of plastic collected. Every month, prizes will be awarded to the class with the highest points and, at the end of the year, to the school with the highest points.
This project is in line with this year’s Earth Day celebration theme, “Planet vs Plastic,” which “calls to advocate for widespread awareness on the health risk of plastics, rapidly phase out all single-use plastics, urgently push for a strong UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution, and demand an end to fast fashion, and build a plastic-free planet for generations to come,” according to the Earth Day Organization.
“Regenerating our planet has long been our advocacy at SM—through our many initiatives in recycling water and repurposing solid waste as well as the use of renewable energy,” said SM Prime Holdings, Inc. assistant vice-resident Jessica Bianca Sy. “Through this program, we aim to motivate students to collect plastics within their communities and bring them to our collection facilities at the nearest SM mall. Active participation and a friendly competition among the students will make this activity not only relevant but fun.”
When asked where the Philippines is now in terms of tackling climate change and protecting our environment, Sec. Loyzaga said that we have already made significant progress, but there are still many things to do.
“Even though they say that we are at the top of the world risk index, we have to look at the parameters. Our population continues to grow, so does the number of people exposed [to the risk]. The other issue is adaptive governance,” she said. How can we arrange our government institutions and our civic institutions so we can build resilience for our population? That is where we need to do more work.”
To combat plastic pollution in the country, the DENR advocates for a circular economy where all plastic applications are reused, recycled, and responsibly managed during and after use while enabling lower greenhouse gas emissions. Sec. Loyzaga also said that apart from the Earth Day Every Day Project, other partnerships and programs are in the pipeline designed to engage the Filipino youth further.
“Without the environment, we have no future. And that’s what we want for these kids to realize,” she said. “My message to everyone is all hands on deck. Okay? We broke it. We have to fix it.”