Environmentalists want anti-plastics law enforced

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines   – Environmentalists in this capital city of Negros Oriental, recently announced that they will be sustaining their campaign against the use of plastic bags amid mounting concerns the city government will ease its implementation of an ordinance banning the use of these items.

Trelly Marigza, a consultant of 350.Org, an international environmental organization with some national coordinators based here, said she and a few other environmental advocates met earlier this week and discussed on more venues to continue their promotions on the use of alternative shopping bags as opposed to plastic bags.

The meeting came hours before the city government held a forum on Ordinance No. 231 or the Plastics Ordinance, attended by representatives from the business sector. The forum was apparently aimed to iron out public perception over issues arising from the measure, more specifically, on the use of biodegradable plastics.

As it turned out, a big department store in the city was “defiant” to the call to stop using plastic bags, insisting that what it has been using, as packaging for items bought from the store, were biodegradable, said Marigza.

Marigza said the business establishment even presented a certification to City Hall showing that its plastic bags have a two percent additive that made it biodegradable, but environmentalists did not agree on this.

Biodegradable plastic bags such as those made from starch and certain plants, known as bio-plastics, are harmless to the environment, but those used by this department store were allegedly not biodegradable as toxicity remained even after the plastic bag disintegrates within a certain number of years, said Marigza..

Marigza contended that there is already a law, and therefore, there is no reason at all that it cannot be fully implemented. Besides, the business establishments were given at least a year of preparation before the implementation of the measure, she added.  (FREEMAN)