Plastics sector claims paper bags unsafe; rubbish, say eco-groups

MANILA— As more and more cities and commercial establishments shun plastic bags, the plastic industry launched an offensive against its alternatives: the brown bags and newspapers.

Crispian Lao, the spokesman for the plastic industry, said on Sunday that wrapping products and foods in brown bags and recycled newspapers would be unsafe for consumers, a statement that environmental groups said was “inaccurate.”

Lao said, “We are raising this fact not to bring down paper but to point out the unintended and costly consequences of the plastic ban, which in most instances has denied the public a cheap food-grade wrapping material.”

He noted that brown paper and newspapers, aside from using waste paper that could have been picked up from anywhere, contain chemicals from production that could contaminate food.

Lao’s statement came as local government units in Metro Manila have started to prohibit the use of plastic bags in wet markets and other commercial establishments to reduce the rubbish that clog up the streets and cause floods during rainy days.

National agencies like the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have also called a ban on plastic bags and Styrofoam in packaging and handling items and food products.

In the Senate, Sen. Miriam Santiago has filed a bill that aims to ban plastic bags regardless of their composition, either regular or degradable plastic bags while promoting the use of reusable bags.

But Lao said plastic bags, which he called food-safe and considered kinder to the environment, should not be blamed for the city’s trash problems.

Local governments, he said, must instead enforce waste segregation. “Banning plastic misses the problem completely. It is an egregious mismatch between problem and solution.”

Meanwhile, the Ecowaste Coalition scoffed at Lao’s arguments for plastic use, saying they were “inaccurate.” Paeng Lopez, a campaigner for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, said plastic bags have been more dangerous to the environment than paper.

Plastic products are made from petroleum, a dwindling natural resource requiring carbon-intensive extraction, transportation, and refining, according to Lopez.

He said many plastic products were not food-grade and were made with hundreds of chemical compounds that the industry refused to divulge.

Lopez said “there is no point in pitting paper to plastics.” Ecowaste, he said, has been calling for the use of reusable bags among Filipino shoppers. /Inquirer