As the globe marks World Environment Day, June 5, with the theme “Putting an End to Plastic Pollution,” the Philippines remains one of the worst contributors to global plastic waste, despite existing laws meant to curb the crisis.
According to study published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin in 2024, the country is projected to generate at least 7.4 million tons of mismanaged plastic waste in 2025. In 2023 alone, the Philippines was responsible for an estimated 356,371 metric tons of ocean plastic waste—roughly 35% of the global total.
Despite having a population of around 109 million, the country outpollutes far more populous nations due to its poor waste management systems and highly polluted rivers.
One glaring example is the Pasig River, labeled in 2021 as the most polluting river in the world, responsible for a significant share of plastic flowing into the oceans. Eighteen other Philippine rivers were also ranked among the top 50 worst polluters globally.
While the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) continues implementing projects such as the Manila Bay Rehabilitation Program—which includes efforts to clean the Pasig River—longstanding issues persist.
The country has had anti-waste legislation in place for years, including the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 and the more recent Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022. However, these policies have failed to substantially reduce plastic waste, particularly sachet packaging, which remains the country’s most dominant source of pollution.
Often sold in sari-sari stores as part of the Filipino “tingi” (retail) culture, these single-use sachets are seen as a convenient but harmful staple. The Philippines has even been called a “sachet economy.”
Sherma Benosa of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives Asia Pacific criticized how corporations exploit tingi culture for profit, packaging goods in small plastics under the guise of serving the poor.
“It is not that we are poor and that we buy tingi style that plastic sachets came to be; it is that companies were focused solely on profit… It is their greed, not their supposed concern for the poor, that made them package their products in problematic materials,” Benosa argued.
Local government units have begun pushing back. In Quezon City, the country’s most populous city, the government launched the “Kuha sa Tingi” initiative in partnership with environmental organizations. The program installs refill stations for common household liquids like detergent and dishwashing liquid—an effort to move away from sachet dependency.
Quezon City also implemented a ban on single-use plastics in April 2025. According to the city’s Environmental Protection and Waste Management Department, plastic bags account for 12% of the city’s waste stream.
“Sachet culture really gets to me,” said Mayor Joy Belmonte in an interview with UNEP. “It is there because we are a poor country. Major manufacturers need to do their part and change the way they package products to make them more environmentally friendly.”
The global context reinforces the urgency. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which leads World Environment Day celebrations, has spotlighted plastic pollution for the third time—after also doing so in 2018 and 2023.
The Geneva Environment Network states that plastics are the “largest” and “most harmful” ocean litter, comprising at least 85% of global marine waste. Recent studies show that plastics are not only polluting waterways but also mountains, where 88% of hard waste and 87% of soft waste consist of plastics.
“Plastic pollution is choking our planet—harming ecosystems, well-being, and the climate,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “It infiltrates every corner of Earth: from the top of Mount Everest to the depths of the ocean; from human brains to human breastmilk.”
Guterres acknowledged the existence of laws in various countries but emphasized that these are no longer enough.
“We need an ambitious, credible, and just [global] agreement this year,” he urged, noting that negotiations for a binding treaty on plastic pollution are expected within the next two months.
Until then, countries like the Philippines face growing pressure—not just to create laws, but to implement them meaningfully and to hold plastic producers accountable.
