Last week, I emailed DENR to ask if it is true that the Philippines is the biggest ocean plastic polluter in the world. I was happy to receive a reply from them, but it was only a reference number for my email they received from me, a humble citizen. I was a call center agent before, so I know what that “reference number” meant. I was hoping to get an answer because being in a solo spot with a huge lead at >300,000 MT (metric ton) as of 2021 is hard to fathom. Especially when the second spot is a galaxy away from us and that we’re not as populous.
That >300,000 MT could have been converted into plastic derivatives and perhaps make a tanker loads of synthetic fuels that can be turned into electricity. If the synthetic fuel is fed into a boiler that can turn a steam turbine, it can already provide power for a considerable amount of household if not an entire community. Plastic pyrolysis can also produce gases like ethane, methane and propane which are collectively known as syngas. To up the ante, plastic pyrolysis can also produce hydrogen gas.
I’m not into data analysis so I’m not sure what to make out of this >300,000 MT that we disposed to the sea in 2021. I am not privy to any information on anthropological affinity of the Filipinos to plastics, let the academe deal with it. Surely, I am not proud of our plastic-strewn streets and plastic-clogged sewage that cause floods in the streets of Manila during heavy downpour. I don’t have the database that corroborates to the >300,000 MT traceable to the Philippines and I wish one of our government agencies has this. I strongly believe that claims should be verifiable and backed up with sound data gathering technique. I wish we would, if we haven’t already, start collecting data as to the plastic usage of every Filipinos according to demographics and whatever relevant parameters statisticians feel necessary. This, in my humble opinion, is important, as we trudge on to a pollution-free world where entities can just come out of the woodwork with their well-curated claims.
Whatever the case may be, synthetic fuel fed boilers can lessen solid plastic waste that could have ended up in the ocean. The carbon dioxide requirement for the syngas can be freely scrubbed out from an atmosphere that is claimed to be saturated with it. Carbon dioxide by the way is an effective reducing agent that will prevent producing unsaturated products which gives off soot when burned. Saturated short chained hydrocarbons are precious cooking gases. Plastic pyrolysis is not only helping to stash away CO2, it also ensures that no marine animals are offended by us ever again.
When I was young, I heard the phrase “sachet economy.” Now I didn’t know what “economy” was but for sure I’ve used products in sachets, I mean, a lot. I heard the phrase, sachet economy, from conceited people from abroad bringing home with them huge packs of products and would condescendingly say that from wherever they came from, there are no sachets. I digressed but since sachets are cheap, a lot of us use it. Since most of us are within proximity of rivers and their tributaries, and due to lack of waste management, we are likely tempted to dispose of the plastic trash into the water and it accumulated into >300,000 MT in the middle of the pandemic too. So, if a tortoise is choked or if a whale carcass is washed up on some shore full of plastics in its stomach, probably its our fault. I put rather bluntly as I can’t think of some euphemism now.
I wonder what’s the main motivation for this ranking, incentives? Even if our waste management is still wanting, our government had been imposing restrictions on plastic use. Quezon City for example encourages its populace to bring a reusable plastic bag during groceries. Shopping malls, groceries, and wet markets would ask you to pay for the plastic bags to pack your purchased items. It was free a few years back. The Ramos administration in the 90s started the cleaning drive of the Pasig Rivers and its tributaries. There were cleaning activities in Manila Bay for the past several years. Or perhaps we dumped the plastic waste we accumulated into the ocean? In any case, we can’t just be in the solo spot with a huge lead as ocean plastic polluter. What if our population doubles or even reaches billions, then perhaps it will be more than >300,000 MT we’ll be dumping into the ocean. Thus, in walk, plastic pyrolysis to atone for this and to prevent the virtue signaling at our expense.
Some would argue that pyrolysis is an expensive and fuel consuming process. But we will come to terms with the dealing of our sachet economy and the >300,000 MT plastic dumped in the ocean. And what better way to deal with it than by providing electricity.
However, electricity coming from plastic can potentially produce greenhouse gases. The usual offender, the carbon dioxide may be compressed in cylinders and kept for future use as fire extinguisher, and closed loop cooling systems. In plastic pyrolysis, CO2 is used as reagent to keep the plastics from turning into unintended products. The excess water vapor given off by the boilers is also GHG. Water vapor, by the way, absorbs IR better than CO2. They can be condensed and polished as makeup feedwater for boiler operation.
Real or licensed mechanical engineers with a reasonable grasp in plant design can easily make a working process flow diagram for this that is palatable to known reference standards like ASME. If a country can produce >300,000 MT of plastic waste and its current population, then we already have a sustainable raw material. Imagine if we reach billions, then we can do this on an industrial scale. The two-pronged approach to deal with this pollution problem, namely electricity production and the feeding of our sachet economy driven plastic waste for electricity production could be a blessing as we atone for this.
This is opinionated.
This was not academically reviewed. Kindly do your own research before believing anything I wrote here. Thanks.
By: AJ Martirez
Edited & Proofread by: Kristine Paraiso
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