Bacolod Councilor Em Ang and company should listen to the concerns of Councilors Elcid Familiaran and Archie Baribar because these are valid and the answers are complicated. The issue of the use of plastics cannot be answered with a slide rule precision because plastic has invaded into every room and corner of this universe and its uses are unimaginable. We have plenty of laws and ordinances that are not enforced or implemented simply because there are no straight answers to complex subjects. I think that we should control its use within our city boundaries but even this we cannot police all.
What probably can be done is to make its use difficult. The suggestion that buyers pay for the plastic they use is right. Taiwan and other countries do that. If a customer wants to have a plastic bag by all means sell his or her that plastic bag but at a high price of at least, say P20 a piece depending on size sand thickness then have the store pay the city 95 percent of the cost. If stores have their ads there, let the store pay 100 percent. A total ban is useless and frustrating, enforcement wise. There is a wide variety of plastics, from hard to film and now we have plastic houses and of course, that omnipresent mono-blocks that we find everywhere from carinderias to churches and side walk cafes. Those who know what a-go-go is, knows that these are not possible without the plastic bag. And who has not seen those viands that are sold along the streets – vegetables, fish, meat, salads, drinks, kinilaw, peeled fruits of all kinds, bitsu-bitsu and bitsukoy and suman and even grated coconuts. How many organic fertilizers and food are wrapped in plastic bags in an ironic twist that contradicts their message of organic and biodegradable materials and life styles? How many of our medicines are in plastic bags or bottles? And talking of bottles, have you seen lately glass bottles for babies that we used during the babyhood of those 60 years of age and above? Even now, our false teeth are plastic and their bridges plastics as well. I am typing this column in a laptop with plastic encasement and the modem is in plastic as well as with the sockets. You can have your long list of plastic products that have become part of our way of modern living. If we ban plastics all these will have to go because these are disposable though in the Philippines we tend to reuse them. Film plastics, however are the main blockers in our waterways because these are usually discarded after one use. Their thinness makes them easily torn and useless. The other plastics, the hard ones – your lavador, mono-block, car parts, plates, table knives, forks and spoons, are reused though in other countries these are thrown with the garbage. What is “good” with them is that there are people who collect and sell them and processors make use of them, creating new industries and livelihood for an army of plastic collectors. What all this show is that we cannot ban them without dislocating a lot of people and taking away their sources of livelihood and passing a new law that we cannot enforce. But it is imperative that we limit the use of these products to prevent more damage to the environment and to ourselves. The city council should undertake more consultations so SP Ang should not be frustrated. All the councilors, from their statements are not against action to mitigate the overly use of plastics. What probably can be done is to make the use of certain plastics too costly. A system can be devised to make plastic bags, for starters, provide the funds to develop better alternatives, like the biodegradable libon.* Visayan Daily Star
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