PLASTIC BAN
Muntinlupa
The Muntinlupa City government is now encouraging residents to use reusable containers when buying takeout food.
“Our antiplastic policy only allows the use of plastic bags as packaging for wet goods, but canteens and karinderyas (eateries) have continued to use them for takeout food,”
Mayor San Pedro noted in an Inquirer interview.
Las Piñas
Mayor Aguilar said the indiscriminate dumping of plastic bags and packaging materials into the environment and its eventual burning in open dumps coupled with an apathetic behavior of the population are exacerbating air pollution, deteriorating water quality, contributing to the shallowing of bays and rivers, and as such constitute a serious threat to public health and the integrity of the ecosystem.
"The banning of the use and distribution of plastics bags and polystyrene foam (styrofoam/ styropor) will greatly contribute to a reduction in the volume of solid wastes generated by local communities that end up in canals, waterways, rivers, creeks and streams and eventually in the bay," Aguilar said.
Pasig
Pasig City Ordinance #9 series of 2010 bans the use of any form of plastic bags on dry goods and regulating its utilization on wet goods, as well as the use of Styrofoam and similar materials as containers for food, produce and other products, providing penalties for its violation thereof and for other purposes.
Quezon City
Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista has signed into law a measure prohibiting the use of plastic bags and polystyrene containers within the City Hall complex, Novaliches District Center (NDC), Quezon City General Hospital (QCGH) and Novaliches District Hospital (NDH).
Ordinance 2127, prohibits the use of these items by city employees and visitors. The ordinance authors said that the city hall generates a lot of plastic and polystyrene waste during its programs, meetings and other activities, and this waste generation should be minimized by encouraging employees and visitors to refrain from using these products. Concessionaires and ambulant vendors who sell wet goods within city government offices should use plastic not thinner than 15 microns to ensure the safety of the consuming public.
Makati
Makati and Caloocan likewise joined other Metro Manila cities in this green advocacy. Makati deployed 49 monitoring teams from the Department of Environmental Services to check if shops and restaurants obey its plastic bag ban. Anyone in Makati caught using plastic bags would be fined P1,000 and would possibly be jailed from five to 30 days. On the other hand, establishment owners who violated the ban would be fined P5,000 and jail time of one month to one year.
Cities in Metro Manila implementing
The Plastic Ban Ordinance
Pasay
Pasay City also disallowed the city-wide use and sale of plastic bags since September 1, 2012. Pasay prohibited dry and wet market stores from using non-compostable plastic bags and required them to use recyclable paper bags, reusable bags, or compostable plastic bags instead.
To force compliance, Pasay also instituted similar penalties of cash fines from P1,000 to P3,000 and business permit cancellations.
