Makati gov’t postpones yet again start of ban on plastics

Consider it a reprieve of sorts—beneficial for businesses but not for the environment.

Amid earlier reports that the plastic ban would be implemented starting this month, the  Makati City government clarified Wednesday that it would take effect in the middle of the year.

“Full implementation of the ban of plastics in Makati is June 2013. But starting January, the city government will monitor [various establishments’] compliance [with] a required gradual reduction [in their stocks] of plastic and Styrofoam,” Makati information chief Joey Salgado said in a text message.

According to him, the Department of Environmental Services will start deploying monitoring teams to check the inventory for  nonbiodegradable packaging of around 6,000 stores, restaurants and other businesses.

“This will be the start of the ‘countdown’ for them to use up their [stocks],” Salgado explained in a phone interview.

This is the second grace period given by Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. After he signed in January last year the implementing rules of the city’s Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, establishments were given up to December to use up their stocks of plastic and polystyrene packaging.

“For now, the city is allowing the use of plastic packaging to give business owners time to deplete their [inventory].  However, starting January 2013, the city government will fully enforce the ban,” Binay had said in a statement issued in June.

At that time, establishment owners were also asked to submit an estimate of the number of plastic packaging they had on stock. To date, none of them has complied, Salgado said.