Marikina to soon ban plastic bags, packages

Following what other Metro Manila cities have started doing, the city government of Marikina will soon ban the use of plastic packaging and bags on dry goods and regulate them on wet goods.

The ordinance, signed by Marikina Mayor Del de Guzman on May 2, will be implemented on November 2, or six months later, while the city environment management office (CEMO) prepares the public—both consumer and business sectors—through a series of information drives.

By that time, restaurants and dry-goods sections of groceries and supermarkets are compelled to stop giving away free plastic bags to customers purchasing dry goods.

Using plastic as secondary packaging for wet goods and Styrofoam packaging in restaurants, fast-food chains and other business establishments will likewise be prohibited.

Under the measure, violators will pay a fine of P1,000 for the first offense, P3,000 and temporary closure for the second offense, and P5,000 and permanent closure of the erring establishment for the third offense.

Indiscriminate use

The ordinance’s drafting and approval sprang from the “indiscriminate use of plastic bags in the public markets alone,” which had reached an alarming rate, the measure said.

“Marikina City generates around 50 tons of plastic wastes each day in which only 20.6 percent gets to be recovered or recycled, leaving 40 tons in the waste stream,” the ordinance said.

The councilors said this is now the right time for the government to act and the people to take active part in the climate mitigation and adaptation efforts, “where management of solid wastes presents a lot of doable options.”

Engineer Oliver Villamena of CEMO said the ordinance will be implemented strictly in November that’s why they are already fleshing out every concern of the public through the implementation rules and regulations (IRR).

The IRR, which will be submitted to De Guzman in June, will enumerate which products fall under dry goods and/or wet goods and how the enforcement will be carried out.

The market administrators and owners of groceries who were briefed about the ordinance last week are cooperative, throwing their full approval to the ordinance’s implementation.

“They were no longer asking why we have to do this. Most of their questions were about how we are going to do this,” he added.

At present, Muntinlupa and Las Piñas cities in Metro Manila ban the use of plastic packaging and bags.