DOH in Ilocos bans single-use plastics in health facilities

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte—The Department of Health (DOH) in Ilocos has started the phased implementation of banning single-use plastics in its hospitals, and other health facilities and offices in the region.

In a memorandum on March 11, regional director Paula Paz Sydiongco said the move was in line with the 2020 resolution of the National Solid Waste Management Commission of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The ban will forbid the use of plastic cups (lower than 0.2 millimeter in thickness), plastic drinking straws, plastic coffee stirrers, plastic spoons, plastic knives, and plastic labo and thin-filmed sand bags of less than 15 microns in these facilities.

Sydiongco said all concerned personnel, visitors, and clients of hospitals and offices under the health agency are prohibited from using the plastic materials.

DOH has initiated three phases of implementing single-use plastics. Phase one began on Jan. 1 of this year, covering hospital and office personnel and visitors.

The second phase will begin on July 1 for healthcare workers, while the last phase will be on Jan. 1 next year, which will include prohibiting patients, including their visitors, relatives, companions, and other clients, from using single-use plastics.

The phased approach to implement the ban has to be done due to the COVID-19 pandemic, wherein the public has resorted to single-use materials as a means of “infection prevention and control.”

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said the “mitigation of unnecessary use of single-use plastics saves the cost of [hospital] services and also promotes sustainable waste management in the health facilities.”

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