Only a few Makati firms found violating plastic ban

Barely a year after the Makati government started implementing a ban on the use of plastic bags, the majority of business establishments operating in the city have been found to be complying with the law.

According to the report of the Plastic Monitoring Task Force (PMTF), of the 4,519 establishments it inspected from January to March of this year, only 366 or around eight percent were caught violating Makati’s Plastic Regulation Program under the Solid Waste Management Code.

Danilo Villas, the head of the city’s Department of Environmental Services (DES), said that the first quarter compliance rating of 92 percent was an improvement over the 90 percent registered in the first six months of the implementation of the citywide plastic ban.

From June to December last year, PMTF teams inspected 6,373 establishments throughout the city.  Of the total, there were 649 violators, mostly food establishments and retail outlets.

Despite the low number of violators, Villas said the monitoring teams, composed of personnel from the Makati Action Center and DES Solid Waste Management Division, would not stop their regular inspections.

In support of the city’s advocacy for a “plastic-free Makati,” city environment officers have been holding a series of seminar-workshops to reorient barangay personnel on the provisions of the city’s antiplastic program.