Watchdog Group Appeals to all Candidates to Tame the Tsunami of Cadmium-containing Plastic Waste
12 March 2025, Quezon City. As the election fever heats up, the environmental watchdog group EcoWaste Coalition appealed to national and local candidates for the May 12 midterm elections to cut down on their use of plastic campaign materials, particularly tarpaulins made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic.
“We’ve been seeing the unrestrained production and consumption of plastic tarpaulins with the ‘tarpaulinization’ of the electoral campaign,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition. “It seems to be “sky’s the limit” despite the supposed preference for eco-friendly materials and the legal cap on campaign expenditures. We find this deeply concerning.”
PVC plastic tarpaulins that are used for electoral campaigning may contain hazardous chemicals such as cadmium.
Aside from the huge volume of plastic tarpaulins made, used and eventually disposed of during the electoral exercise, the EcoWaste Coalition is concerned about the fate of hazardous chemicals in tarpaulins, cadmium in particular, which can be transported to other locations and persist for long periods.
To illustrate the problem, the EcoWaste Coalition collected 70 pieces of plastic scraps from various shops in the City of Manila where campaign tarpaulins can be done for as low as P24 per piece, or four pesos per square foot for a 2 feet x 3 feet poster, for a “roll to roll” printing.
Plastic tarpaulin scraps collected by the EcoWaste Coalition from printing shops contain cadmium at levels exceeding the EU limit of 100 parts per million (ppm).
The group then screened the plastic scraps for cadmium using an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) device, which detected cadmium in the range of 143 parts per million (ppm) to 415 ppm in all the materials analyzed.
The group also collected campaign tarpaulins of senatorial candidates, 38 out of 62 bets to date, 12 of which will be submitted to a private laboratory for confirmatory cadmium analyses. The test results will be publicly released in due course.
Under the European Commission Regulation No. 494/2011, manufacturers are prohibited from placing mixtures and articles produced from plastic material with cadmium “equal to or greater than 0.01 percent by weight,” or 100 ppm.
The detection of cadmium above 100 ppm in plastic tarpaulins being used by candidates is disturbing, the EcoWaste Coalition said, as these materials would surely end up in disposal sites and the natural environment.
As stated in the review of scientific information on cadmium published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “cadmium is a non-essential and toxic element for humans mainly affecting kidneys and the skeleton. It is also a carcinogen by inhalation. Cadmium is accumulated in bone and may serve as a source of exposure later in life.”
PVC plastic tarpaulins that are used for electoral campaigning may contain hazardous chemicals such as cadmium.
“In the environment, cadmium is toxic to plants, animals and microorganisms. Being an element, cadmium is persistent – it cannot be broken down into less toxic substances in the environment. The degree of bioavailability and potential for effects varies depending on the form of cadmium. Cadmium bioaccumulates mainly in the kidneys and liver of vertebrates and in aquatic invertebrates and algae,” UNEP said.
According to UNEP, “products containing cadmium are not typically collected separately from the general waste stream in developing countries. Therefore cadmium discards will end up in municipal waste and disposed of in landfills, incineration, open burning or indiscriminate dumping.”
“Some of the cadmium in these products will be released to the environment, the extent of which depends on disposal method, control technologies applied and other factors,” it said.
“The open burning in some developing countries of waste products containing cadmium could be an important source of local and regional cadmium releases to land and aquatic systems,” UNEP stated.
To reduce the risk of cadmium exposure to human health and the environment, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) promulgated a Chemical Control Order (CCO) regulating cadmium through DENR Administrative Order No. 2021-08.
While cadmium in products and materials not considered a chemical substance or mixture is not within the scope of the CCO, DENR encourages the use of products and materials without cadmium to avoid and reduce the release of cadmium to the environment.
As PVC plastics are widely used for commercial advertisements, public service announcements, political campaigns, conference notices, street signages, and in banners for socio-cultural events like baptismal and birthday parties, graduation rites, weddings and even in funerals, the EcoWaste Coalition urged the government to take steps to control, if not impose an outright ban, on cadmium in plastic materials to minimize cadmium pollution and safeguard human health and the environment.
“As there is no policy yet restricting or banning cadmium in plastics, all we can do is to appeal to all well-meaning candidates from the entire political spectrum to moderate their use of tarpaulins, abide by the COMELEC’s campaign rules, and ensure the judicious use of resources as they woo the electorate to vote for them,” the EcoWaste Coalition said.
References:
https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/27636/Cadmium_Review.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://chemical.emb.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/DAO-2021-08-CCO-Cadmium.pdf
