Mandaluyong, Manila also eye ban on plastics

The cities of Manila and Mandaluyong are also going “green.”

Following the example of Muntinlupa, officials of the two cities have also come up with their own version of the landmark ordinance, which prohibits the use of plastic bags and other nonbiodegradable materials.

On Tuesday, Ordinance No. 73, or “An Ordinance Reducing the Use of Plastic Bags and Styrophors in the City of Mandaluyong,” was approved by the city council.

Once imposed, it hopes to gradually wean people away from the habit of using plastic bags whenever they shop in the dry section of public markets, groceries, supermarkets, malls and other similar establishments by 2014.

“I think the gradual phase-out is best for everybody—for the plastic bag manufacturer, consumers and our law enforcers. It will give consumers and manufacturers time to adjust to the situation and look for the best alternatives,” said Councilor Jessie Garcia, author of the ordinance.

Under the ordinance, Mondays and Wednesdays will be “No Plastic Bags and No Styrophor Days” in the dry sections of commercial establishments starting in April. Plastic bags, however, will still be allowed in wet markets.

By 2013, the ban will also be imposed on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays but by the following year, it will be in effect 24/7.

Violators face fine ranging from P500 to P3,000 in addition to imprisonment ranging from one to three months, according to Liza Lei Garcia-Beschi, Garcia’s chief of staff.

“I am very thankful that my colleagues [gave] their 100 percent support for the ordinance. I am really positive that it will greatly help in reducing floods in the city,” Garcia said.

In Manila, councilors took up on first reading Tuesday a proposed ordinance seeking to regulate, if not completely eliminate, the use of plastic bags and other nonbiodegradable packaging in business establishments.

“There is an urgent need to regulate the use of plastic bags and polystyrene packaging to prevent [these from] clogging the city’s canals and polluting its creeks, rivers, lakes and other waterways,” Councilors Jocelyn B. Dawis-Asuncion and Ma. Sheilah H. Lacuna Pangan said.—With Kristine Felisse Mangunay