MANILA, Philippines ? There?s nothing fantastic about plastic bags; in fact, they are a curse to the environment, environmental groups said Saturday on the occasion of the 2010 International Plastic Bags Free Day.

In a statement, the EcoWaste Coalition and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) called on local consumers to reduce their use of plastic bags when shopping for groceries or going to the market.

?Plastic bags symbolize our penchant for convenient and disposable stuff as we recklessly embrace throw-away culture. We ask consumers to rethink their addiction to plastic bags and put an end to the ecological misery caused by wasteful consumption,? said Gigie Cruz of GAIA, one of the organizers of the 2O1O International Plastic Bags Free Day.

Wearing plastic bags over their heads, members of the two groups visited the Commonwealth Market in Quezon City on Saturday morning and talked to consumers in a bid to dissuade them from using plastic bags. They also carried signs saying ?Plastik: Hindi Walastik!? (?Walastik? is a popular Filipino expression that means ?fantastic.?)

?By cutting our use of plastic bags and other non-environmentally-sound packaging, we significantly reduce our waste generation and lessen associated ecological hazards such as climate and marine pollution from happening,? Cruz said.

Sonia Mendoza of the Mother Earth Foundation and the EcoWaste Coalition's Task Force on Plastics lamented that data on per capita consumption and disposal of plastic bags are not available.

?But there is no lack of evidence of plastic bags ending up littering streets, parks, dumpsites, rivers, seas and even the sky. We really need to end our love affair with plastic bags and opt for reusables,? Mendoza said.

Instead of using plastic bags for shopping, the group advocated the use of reusable bags made of other material. They also said supermarkets and shops should introduce their own reusable bags made of recycled and locally-sourced materials.

They should also promote and provide attractive incentives like rebates and price cuts to inspire consumers to bring their own bags or containers. The government should also ban single-use plastic bags and compel manufacturers to either bear the costs of plastic pollution or institute environmentally sound efforts to recover used plastic bags and packaging materials.

The green groups also reminded President Benigno Aquino III that he supported a ban of single-use plastic bags and other plastic-based disposable containers in a pre-election survey conducted by the EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace.

?Over the longer term we must have greater use of biodegradable materials for packaging and containers, and have a sound plan for recovery and recycling of plastics,? then presidential candidate Aquino said.

Citing data from the Ocean Conservancy?s 2010 annual report titled ?Trash Travels,? the groups said plastic bags rank first as the most littered item in Philippine seas.

A survey conducted in 2006 by the EcoWaste Coalition and Greenpeace found synthetic plastic materials comprising 76 percent of the trash floating on Manila Bay, with plastic bags constituting 51 percent.

The groups said that in the US, only five percent of plastic produced is recovered, 50 percent is buried in landfills, some are remanufactured into durable goods and the rest are ?unaccounted for? or lost in the environment and ultimately into the oceans.

The 2010 International Plastic Bags Free Day seeks to raise public awareness on the problems of overconsumption of plastic bags and other disposables and the urgency of adopting ecological values and lifestyle choices.