Makati, Are We Really Plastic-Free?

    On a City Ordinance 2003-095 legalized by Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr., it was stated that the plastic materials and other non-biodegradable materials (like the Styrofoam) are prohibited to be used, reproduced or merchandised in the market in accordance to the Solid Waste Management Code of Makati which aims to help in building a cleaner and greener environment. It was on the year 2003 that the City Ordinance 2003-095 had been created and different establishments were given a 9 years to prepare and to eliminate those plastic materials from their inventories. The 9-year sufficient period was supposed to end by December 31, 2012; but, the City Ordinance had been effective only on June 20, 2013 since Mayor Binay extended the deadline. On the contrary, this does not entirely forbids the use of plastic since there are what they called “primary” and “secondary” packaging. The primary packaging contains the items sold in the market such as frozen food, snack food, hardware. While the secondary packaging serves as the support for the primary wet packaging such as the frozen food. Also exempted are sachets, plastic bottles and containers for beverage, oil, peanut butter, alcohol and etc.

    Materials made from plastic had been used for a very long period here in the Philippines. Factories who produce petroleum-based plastic distribute these plastic materials to different parts of the city to be used as utensils, in packaging, in groceries and etc. As oil price continues to rise, the production of plastic materials also increases while the landmass for these plastic materials being used then thrown become smaller. Though there are different kinds of plastic materials, they have their own disadvantages. Since these materials being produced are not entirely biodegradable, it can cause serious destructive effects to the environment.

   Due to this plastic ban, establishments in Makati started complying with the city ordinance by replacing these plastic materials with alternatives such as paper bags, baskets, kitchen utensils such as paper cups, plates, wooden spoons and forks among others. City residents must think first of the environment though some of these alternatives may cause inconvenience to them like the use of paper bags in groceries wherein there are times that the paper bag gets wrecked due to  the heavy stuff. Furthermore, the government should now start looking for alternatives to those plastic materials who are exempted from the ban since it would not truly mean that a city is plastic-free.

  Do we really need to wait for Makati City to be tagged as the “plastic capital” instead of being the business capital of the country? Keep in mind that whatever we do today, there are consequences that awaits in the future. Let’s start moving to a cleaner and greener environment. Just as the tagline goes, “Make it happen, make it Makati.”