Senate urged to tackle bill to ban plastic bag use

The Senate is urged to speed up work on the bill to ban the use of plastic bags by commercial establishments such as supermarkets, convenience stores, groceries, department stores, food chains and sari-sari stores after the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading its own version of the bill.

“Now that the House of Representatives has passed on third and final reading their version of the bill banning non-biodegradable plastic bags, I call on my colleagues in the Senate to speed up work on   Senate Bill 2759 or the Total Plastic Bag Ban Act of 2011,” said Sen. Loren Legarda, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, in a statement.

Legarda, who sponsored the bill, said that the SB 2759 was similar to House Bill 4840 or the Plastic Bag Regulation Act of 2011.

The Senate bill was filed on March 29, taken up by the plenary on first reading and referred to the Senate Committee on Trade and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on May 9.

“Plastic bags end up as litter as it makes its way to landfills, drainages and bodies of water, like Pasig River and Manila Bay, and take decades to decompose, damaging marine life.  This issue of pollution is further aggravated by natural hazards, which have become unpredictable due to climate change,” Legarda said.

Under the proposed Senate bill, the penalty for the violations include a fine of P10,000 for first, offense, P50,000 for second offense, and P200,000 and a one-year suspension of the establishment’s business permit for the third offense.

To have a positive impact on the environment, Legarda urged companies to change their economic mindset.

She said companies must invest in long-term reusable and recyclable bags, which are more sustainable in the long run, than the seemingly cost-effective plastic bags, which have a negative impact on the environment.