Local governments reminded to enforce ban on plastic bags
MANILA, Philippines— All Saints Day and All Souls Day should not be a reason for local governments to be lax in the enforcement of ordinances banning the use of plastic bags, a coalition of environmental protection groups said on Friday.
EcoWaste Coalition urged local government units with ordinances banning plastic bags to fully enforce their regulations as millions of Filipinos visited cemeteries to honor their departed on Friday and Saturday.
“The mammoth gathering of people in public and private cemeteries during Undas should not be used to justify the laid-back enforcement of key environmental measures such as the various LGU ordinances banning plastic bags,” environmentalist Sonia Mendoza said.
Mendoza is the head of EcoWaste’s Task Force on Plastics and chair of the Mother Earth Foundation.
Stores and vendors doing their business inside and outside the cemeteries should not be exempt from following such ordinances, which are meant to promote and protect the common good, she said in a press statement.
“We hope that concerned LGUs will take extra steps to ensure that such ordinances are not relegated to the trash bins as the age-old practice of remembering the dead is observed,” she added.
Article continues after this advertisement“Let it not be said that those tasked to enforce these environmental ordinances were sleeping on the job and allowed the deluge of plastic bags right under their noses,” Mendoza said.
Article continues after this advertisement“Vendors, we also hope, will cooperate and observe the restrictions on the use of plastic bags, as well as polystyrene containers, accordingly,” she added.
Nationwide, at least 90 LGUs have enacted ordinances banning or regulating the use of plastic bags. In September, Caloocan City became the latest addition to the growing list of LGUs prohibiting most plastic and plastic foam or polystyrene packaging materials.
The cities of Las Piñas, Makati, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Pasay, Pasig and Quezon have also enacted similar ordinances.
EcoWaste, Mother Earth Foundation and other green groups have hailed the local ordinances as “vital measures,” helping trim down the country’s burgeoning solid waste problem.
According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the volume of waste generated nationwide estimated at 30,000 tons per day “shoots up during public events.”
Metro Manila is the country’s biggest waste generator, churning out over 8,000 tons of trash daily.
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