38 Makati firms fined for violating plastic ban

A nine-year grace period was apparently not enough time for 38 establishments in Makati which were cited for violating the citywide plastic ban on its first day of implementation on Thursday.

In a statement released Friday, the city government said the violators included shops, restaurants, markets and grocery stores in six villages.

Their owners were fined P5,000 each for violating City Ordinance No. 2003-095 which bans the use, sale and distribution of plastics and other nonbiodegradable materials like Styrofoam.

“Business establishments have no excuse for not complying with the plastic ban mandated by the Solid Waste Management Code of Makati. They were given more than nine years to make the transition to using environment-friendly materials, aside from the repeated reminders and warnings we gave prior to the full implementation on June 20,” Makati Department of Environmental Services chief Danilo Villas said.

His department was charged by the city government to implement the ordinance.

Villas said 327 establishments in eight barangays were inspected by members of the Plastic Monitoring Task Force from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Most of the violators were found in Barangays South Cembo and Guadalupe Nuevo which had 12 each followed by Barangay Bel-Air with seven.

Barangay [The villages of] Olympia and Cembo each registered three violators while there was only one in Barangay Poblacion.

There were no violators in Comembo and San Lorenzo, Villas said.

According to Villas, the task force will continue its inspections until all 33 villages in the city have been checked for compliance with the plastic ban.