The final of six rounds of negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty ended with no treaty, as consensus could not be reached. Oil-producing countries effectively blocked the development of an agreement that would have put the world on a path to meaningful cuts in plastic production. These countries, supported by an army of petrochemical and plastics lobbyists, refused to accept treaty language mandating drastic reductions in plastic consumption and production. Profits had to be protected at all costs. Massive, mandatory global cuts in plastic consumption and production were not acceptable.

Of course, being dependent on oil as their major source of income, these nations saw an ambitious deal on plastics as a threat to their very existence. The world is already turning away from fossil fuels. Thus, consumers’ seemingly insatiable appetite for plastics has become the final bastion of oil — one not to be surrendered without a fight.

A majority of countries, however, have a different perspective. The threat to existence, as they see it, is the toxic, choking plastic waste killing and crippling life. Recycling has miserably failed to address the sheer volume of plastic waste. We are running out of space for landfills. In the Global South, much garbage is left uncollected, ending up in the oceans or released as toxic fumes when burned.

Cebu City in the Philippines illustrates the crisis. Known as the country’s “Queen City of the South,” it is the cradle of Christianity in Asia and home of the Santo Niño de Cebu, the oldest known Christian relic in the Philippines. It is a popular convention venue and tourist destination — a jump-off point to beaches, dive sites, and other tourist spots in Cebu and neighboring provinces. With a population of about a million, Cebu City is the largest city in the Central Philippines. It is a major hub for the outsourcing industry and was a center of trade long before Spanish colonizers arrived in the 16th century.

City-wide waste segregation at the household level was introduced more than 15 years ago to comply with the country’s Ecological Solid Waste Act of 2000. Unfortunately, implementation was soon discontinued. What we have now is expensive yet inadequate, inefficient, and environmentally unsound waste management.

In 2021, the Cebu City government signed an agreement with a local subsidiary of a Chinese waste management company to build and operate a waste-to-energy (WtE) plant. The agreement comes with a take-or-pay provision for 800 tons of trash a day, for 40 years. The facility will be obsolete long before the agreement expires. The project stalled for some years, but on August 28, 2025, a public consultation was conducted by the city government at the proposed site — a rural corner of the city — to get the community’s endorsement of the project.

Some months after the city had signed up for the WtE, the public learned that as much as PhP240 million (US$4.2 million) could have been lost to corruption in connection with garbage collection contracts awarded to a private entity in 2021.

Many neighborhoods have no regular garbage collection. Garbage piles on the roadside are common sights. Rivers and drainage systems are clogged with discarded plastic. Plastic waste has become a contributing factor in the massive floods that have hit Cebu City recently. Inefficiency, lack of segregation at source, and corruption all play a role.

However, the biggest factor in the unmanageable volume of garbage is our failure to acknowledge the necessity of containing plastic consumption. Population growth, modern urban lifestyles, and increased prosperity reflecting declining poverty incidence have naturally led to increased consumption and waste generation, especially of single-use plastics. Only a fraction of all plastic waste has been, is being, and will be recycled. The problem has grown more complex over the years. For instance, thousands of small vendors and business establishments depend on single-use plastics. Water supply falls short of demand, making single-use plastics a convenient option. There is so much plastic waste that, no matter how we “manage” it — incinerate, reuse, bury, or dump — it will eventually emit or leach toxic substances into the surrounding environment.

We cannot solve this plastic waste crisis on our own. We need help to come up with doable, sustainable, and just solutions, from concept to financing and implementation. Thus, it is utterly disheartening that a few nations succeeded in sabotaging the negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty.

Plastic waste was long viewed as problematic solely because of its volume, toxicity, and persistence. Today, however, we better understand plastics’ contribution to climate change. It is not just a plastic pollution problem. Cebu City is not spared the effects of climate change, such as devastating typhoons, debilitating droughts, and climate whiplash. While even an international agreement to cut plastic production cannot stop climate change overnight, we recall the words of Lao Tzu: a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The negotiations for the Global Plastics Treaty may have failed for now. Nevertheless, they mark important steps toward a future where production and consumption sustain — rather than destroy — life.

About the author: Originally from Denmark, Marit Stinus-Cabugon is a long-time resident of Cebu City, Philippines. She has worked with rural development, promotion of local music, civic clubs, press freedom, among others. Cabugon has been writing the weekly opinion column Resurgence for The Manila Times since 2017.