Waste survey exposes extent of plastic pollution in Manila Bay

Following the arrival of the Greenpeace ship M.Y. Esperanza in Manila as part of the group's global expedition to defend the oceans, the ship's crew and volunteers from Greenpeace and the Eco-Waste Coalition this morning collected approximately four cubic meters of plastic trash from Manila Bay onboard inflatable boats, as part of a waste survey and documentation to monitor the extent of plastic pollution in Manila's famous coastline. Manila Bay is considered one of the most polluted bays in Asia, and plastics comprise most of the floating litter on its surface.

"Manila Bay has become a huge floating dump for the whole of Metro Manila and the other coastal provinces from the Bataan peninsula down to Cavite," said Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Beau Baconguis. "The immense volume of assorted plastic garbage littering its coasts and floating in its currents is symbolic of the trashing of Manila Bay, and serves as a visual reminder of the pollution that is slowly killing the seas," she added.

Declared a pollution hotspot in 1999 by the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas in East Asia (PEMSEA), Manila bay suffers from pollution from industries which dump their effluents (often toxic) in the bay or in its estuaries, as well as from commercial activities and domestic sewage. Degradation of the bay has long before reached alarming levels, directly affecting the health and livelihoods of around 10 million people living in the vicinity(1).

The huge volume of plastic trash which regularly finds its way to this important body of water impacts greatly on the sea-suffocating vital marine ecosystems and the plant, animal, and human lives that these support. Along with less visible but equally harmful pollutants, plastics have smothered the bay's mangrove, sea grass, and coral ecosystems, and as in other coastal areas where plastic trash predominates, have led to the death of birds and marine animals via ingestion or entanglement.

The plastic waste survey and documentation undertaken today by Greenpeace and Eco-Waste Coalition highlights the urgency of implementing waste management laws on land, particularly those concerning plastics such as disposable (single-use) packaging which is expected to be the main plastic culprit in Manila Bay.

Eco-Waste coalition plans to donate the recyclables which will be collected from the activity to Smokey Mountain communities. The rest of the plastic trash will be incorporated in installation art created by artist Ed Manalo. The sculptures will be donated to the National Ecology Center. The M.Y. Esperanza also plans to tour a sculpture for the rest of its expedition which includes the Trash Vortex, an area in the North Pacific where plastic trash from all over the world has converged in a great gyrating mass.

"Protecting our oceans from pollution means implementing measures on land so that land-based pollution sources are effectively controlled," said Eco-Waste Coalition secretary Manny Calonzo, "Toward this end, the government should mandate the listing and prohibition of environmentally unacceptable products, including those used for packaging. Corporations and retailers should also phase out the manufacture and use of single-use plastic products and packaging to enable consumers to veer away from such disposable plastic products."

The Greenpeace ship M.Y. Esperanza is visiting the Philippines from August 15 to September 3, 2006 as part of her global journey to expose the environmental threats to the world's oceans and to campaign for the establishment of marine reserves. The visit to the Philippines will draw attention to the grave impacts of land based pollution to the country's fragile marine environment.
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Notes to Editor

(1)Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas in East Asia (PEMSEA) notes
http://www.undp.org/gef/05/pass_protect/project_results/reviewed/iw/Pemsea%20notes%20(IW2).doc