‘Bayong’ to replace plastic bags in supermarkets?

Celebrities and environmental activists have launched a united front to promote the use of the lowly bayong as a new fashion statement for shoppers.

A congresswoman, a television personality, a beauty queen, an actor and environmentalists yesterday used bayong instead of the usual plastic bags while shopping for groceries at the Hi-Top Supermarket on Quezon Avenue in Quezon City.

"Using bayong and other reusable bags is okay. It is a better lifestyle. We should let Earth breathe and rehabilitate itself and do away with plastics," said Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.

Baraquel was joined by ABS-CBN host Tintin Bersola-Babao, Miss Earth 2006 Cathy Untalan and actor Roy Alvarez at Hi-Top Supermarket during the launching of the Ecological Waste Coalition’s (EcoWaste) campaign against single-use packaging like plastics, which pollute the environment.

The group of celebrities and environmentalists assailed the proliferation of plastic during the event which coincided with the commemoration yesterday of Global Day of Action Against Waste and Incineration.

Manny Calonzo, convener of EcoWaste, said bayong, paper bags and reusable bags could be a fashion statement that will benefit the environment.

"It has been the mindset of people that bayong or reusable bags in supermarkets are not fashionable, that’s why they prefer the plastic shopping bags. People also think that it is more convenient to just go to the supermarket and let baggers put your grocery in the plastic bag than bring reusable bags or bayong with them," Calonzo noted.

Shoppers are not aware of the impact of accumulating plastic bags in the garbage," he added.

EcoWaste said plastics comprise a huge fraction of the municipal wastes.

Based on EcoWaste and Greenpeace’s recently completed survey of garbage floating in Manila Bay, 51 percent of the waste were plastic bags, 19 percent were composed of plastic sachets and junkfood packaging materials, 13 percent were biodegradables, 10 percent were made of rubber, five percent were of styrofoam, and one percent hard plastics.

Environmentalists said plastic makes up 76 percent of the waste collected during their survey at Manila Bay.

Calonzo explained that plastic bags are non-biodegradable and normally end up in canals or dumps.

He said plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to disintegrate, releasing toxins to the soil and water, obstructing drains, polluting the seas, and entangling and poisoning animals who mistakenly eat them.

Calonzo said if burned, plastics release harmful chemicals such as cancer-causing dioxins that can contaminate humans and the environment, including the food supply.

"The plastic invasion of the Filipino culture and society must end. The health and environmental costs of its production and use are too high," said Gigie Cruz, of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA).