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cenSEI

CONTENTS BUSINESS NATION WORLD TECHNOLOGY

BUSINESS

Plastic Bags Ban:

An Update

By Victoria Fritz

STRATEGY POINTS

A spreading initiative among local government

units to reduce or ban the use of plastic

bags and styrofoam containers, along with

pending bills in the Senate and House of

Representatives to regulate them, have

prompted the plastic-bag manufacturers to go

on a public-relations offensive

August 2011, The CenSEI Report

reported that a number of local

government units had instituted restrictions

on the use of plastic bags and polystyrene

(Styrofoam) containers, including

to enact such

restrictions in Metro Manila.

At the time of that report, other towns and

cities implementing their own restrictions

included: Pasig City; Batangas City;

Carmona and Imus in Cavite; Sta. Barbara

in Iloilo; Biñan and Los Banos in Laguna;

Burgos in Pangasinan; Lucban and Infanta

in Quezon, and; Antipolo City in Rizal.

Various towns in Nueva Ecija signed a

resolution that would ban the use of plastic

bags, and promised to convene their

respective municipal councils to pass local

ordinances in keeping with the resolution.

Subsequently, more areas have followed

suit: Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro

in January completely banned the use

of plastic bags, after banning their use

from Friday to Sunday in 2011. The order

came after the city government observed

that most plastic bags used by consumers

eventually ended up in waterways, parks,

beaches and streets.

In an April 1 commentary by Sonia

Mendoza of the Mother Earth Foundation,

published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer,

it was reported that other cities and

municipalities have enacted ordinances to

reduce or prohibit the use of plastic bags,

including: the cities of Las Piñas, Makati,

and Pasay in Metro Manila; Calamba City,

Calauan, Luisiana, Paete, Kalayaan, and

Sta. Cruz in Laguna; Bacolod City in Negros

Occidental; Burgos in Pangasinan, and;

Odiongan in Romblon.

More areas act to reduce or

ban the use of plastic bags

and polystyrene containers

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She also reported that Subic Bay Freeport

is the latest addition to the list of places

considering reducing or banning the use of

plastic bags and Styrofoam containers.

Other places instituting similar restrictions

include the province of Bulacan, and the

city of Santa Rosa in Laguna.

Meanwhile, Quezon City recently passed

an ordinance banning the use of plastic

bags in its City Hall and other government

establishments, and heavily promoting

the use of reusable/recyclable bags in the

private establishments.

And in January this year, the Metro

Manila Development Authority said it

region to implement bans on plastic bags

by 2013, as reported on the Interaksyon

news portal of TV5.

Pending legislation. In August last year,

the House approved House Bill 4840,

regulating the use of plastic bags. This bill

does not ban plastic bags, but encourages

collection and recycling, calling to mind

the problems involved in recycling earlier

mentioned. However, it calls for the

gradual phase-out of non-biodegradable

plastic bags within three years of effectivity

of the measure.

The Senate has two proposed versions.

The Censei Report piece in August

Loren Legarda in April 2011. Senate

2011), which if passed, will prohibit

the use of non-biodegradable plastic

bags by supermarkets, groceries, public

markets, restaurants, fast food chains,

department and retail stores, and other

similarestablishments, with corresponding

penalties for violators.

The other version, proposed by Sen.

Miriam Santiago, is Senate Bill 3001,

which will also be called the Total Plastic

Bag Ban Act of 2011, bans plastic carrier

bags of all types, making no distinction

between biodegradable and non-

biodegradable plastic bags. This more

encompassing law enjoys the support of

environmental groups such as the Eco-

Waste Coalition.

Plastics industry goes on counter-

offensive. Since then, the plastics

manufacturing industry has gone on

a public relations counter-offensive,

mounting a media campaign to inform

the public of what it considers to be the

advantages of plastic bags.

The Philippines Plastics Industry

Association (PPIA), through its

spokesperson Crispian Lao, said that

plastic is not the problem, as related in the

May 8 Philippine Daily Inquirer opinion

column of Rina Jimenez David. Lao said

a ban on plastics is short-sighted and

impractical. The PPIA itself had said the

same thing in an April 1 column under its

own name, also published in the Inquirer.

food would take “just as long to degrade

lining needs to be separated from the

cardboard. He also claimed that plain

paper does not degrade that easily, since

paper bags have been found intact in

plastic is safer, Lao added.

Plastic bags ban: An update

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