Senate bills vs plastic bags gain support

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Monday backed two Senate bills that seek to regulate the use of plastic grocery bags and push for the use of environment-friendly alternatives. During Monday's Senate hearing, Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya and Environment executive director Emelita Aguinaldo lauded Senator Manuel Villar's Senate Bill 1103 and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago's Senate Bill 1543. SB 1103 seeks to promote sound waste management by requiring all department stores, malls, and commercial establishments to utilize reusable environment-friendly shopping bags and provide them free of charge to customers and patrons. SB 1543, on the other hand, seeks to regulate the use of plastic grocery bags. "This is in consonance with one of the basic consumer rights, the right to a healthy human environment," said Maglaya. She said the DTI would be willing to be part of the implementing body for the project, adding that the DENR would the right agency to head the said implementing body. Aguinaldo said they would consult with the private sector regarding the Senate bills. She said the DENR, together with mall owners, have already launched a reusable bag campaign wherein Wednesdays are reusable bag day. "No plastic would be given out for free on these days," she said. Suggestions Steven Cua, president of the Philippine Amalgamated Supermarkets Association, Inc., suggested that maybe supermarkets and retailers can influence buyers to bring reused plastic bags in exchange for a free new plastic bag. "[We can] start a recycling industry," he said. Environmental group EcoWaste Coalition, however, said they would like the Senate legislation to ban the practice of giving free plastic bags to consumers in all commercial establishments; impose plastic bag environmental tax or levy; and prohibit the use of plastic bags as banderitas; among others. "We have come here today to tell the Senators of the urgency of enacting a robust law to tame the plasic monster that is wreaking havoc on our fragile ecosystems," said Sonia Mendoza of EcoWaste Coalition's Task Force on Plastics. Villar, who heads the Senate committees on economic affairs and trade and commerce, said they would review what they have tackled and what was also discussed at the House of Representatives regarding the issue. "I think we have to be imaginative here," he said during the Senate hearing on the two bills. Citing their 2006 study with environmental group Greenpeace, EcoWaste said 76 percent of garbage found drifting in Manila Bay were plastic materials, and that 51 percent of which were plastic bags. The group likewise cited a United Nations report called "Marine Litter - Trash that Kills" which says that plastics comprise 90 percent of floating marine debris worldwide. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMANews.TV