Manila’s ‘early Christmas gift to Nature’

Manila moved a step closer to banning the use and sale of plastic bags and Styrofoam packaging in an ordinance passed on third and final reading by the city council on Tuesday.

Thirty-one councilors voted for the passage of City Ordinance No. 7393, which bans “the use of any form of plastic bags on dry goods and regulating its utilization on wet goods, as well as the use of polystyrene and similar materials as containers for food, goods and other products.”

Councilor Jocelyn Dawis-Asuncion, one of the authors, explained that the ordinance doesn’t ban the use of plastics altogether but only plastics used as secondary packaging for dry goods. It also regulates their use on wet goods.

Secondary packaging refers to materials that hold products that come in boxes, cans, jars, tubes, etc., which are considered primary packaging. When one buys a bar of bath soap, for example, the box serves as its primary packaging while the bag provided by the store is the secondary packaging.

Once enacted, the ordinance would put Manila on the growing list of local governments that have banned nonbiodegradable packaging. In Metro Manila, the cities of Marikina, Muntinlupa, Pasig, Valenzuela, Las Piñas and Makati have passed similar ordinances.

Under the ordinance, violators face fines ranging from P1,000 to P5,000, aside from a prison term of up to six months and a one-year cancellation of their business licenses.

Green advocates lauded the city council for its latest “environmental action.”

“We congratulate the people of Manila and their elected representatives for passing the ordinance, which is undeniably an early Christmas gift to Mother Nature. By nipping wasteful consumption in the bud, we give a new lease on life to our plastic-strewn surroundings, creeks and rivers, and to Manila Bay itself,” said Mother Earth Foundation chair Sonia Mendoza.

But while environmentalists may be celebrating, a former head of the Philippine Plastics Industry Association (PPIA) warned that “the Philippine plastics industry and the jobs of 175,000 families are at stake.”

Former PPIA president Crispian Lao maintained that scientists had proven that paper bags are actually “more destructive to the environment.”

“The industry is saddened by this news,” Lao said. “We were not consulted.”