Green advocates in Davao City are keeping their fingers crossed that single-use plastics (SUPs) will soon be banned in Davao City.
The movement to ban SUPs got a fresh shot in the arm after the proposal of Councilor Disodado Mahipus Jr. to reduce the use of single-use plastics has reached committee hearing last month.
Representatives of the Interface Development Interventions (IDIS) are hopeful that it would be the last committee hearing and policies of the proposed Single-Use Plastic Regulation Ordinance 2020 by Mahipus will soon be approved.
The proposed ordinance enumerated ten SUPs, which are conceived, designed or placed in the market to be used only once over a short time span for being disposed or discarded whether recyclable or non-recyclable: plastic drinking cups, plastic condiments sauce or gravy containers in fastfood, plastic cup lids, plastic stirrers, plastic straws, plastic cutleries, plastic meal packaging, plastic gloves,plastic materials used as buntings during fiestas and balloon sticks.
“So far these are the 10 plastics covered by the ordinance, which means katong wala na-mention diri okay pa to use,” Chinkie Golle, executive director of IDIS told media in Kapehan sa Dabaw.
Banning the use of plastic cellophanes is not yet covered by the proposed ordinance.
“Kana pa ang hisgutan puhon in our end kay wala man gi-adopt ang among proposal that it should cover plastic cellophane but eventually at least naa ta’y ordinance na mu cover sa initial lists of plastics. Bag-o ni nga ordinance and we actually submitted our position paper pero we have learned ang position paper namo dili to siya fully adopted kay na apud daw mga concerns ang mga business sector,” Golle said.
Last year, IDIS has passed a proposal to the offices of city councilors Mahipus and Mabel-Sunga Acosta for the crafting of an ordinance banning the use of single-use plastics in the city.
Ruel Kenneth Felices, partnership building officer of IDIS, said Mahipus already has an on hand policy but cannot reproduce it yet.
“Mao ni ang na-prepare na draft ni councilor Mahipus alongside to reduce use of plastic here in Davao CIty. Hopefully last committee hearing na tong nahitabo,” he said.
The proposed ordinance only allow recyclable paper bags, biodegrable plastic bags, reusable bags such as cloth bags, bags with indigenous materials such as abaca, anahaw, buri, bamboo or pineapple, and use of cartons to be used in Davao City.
“We are hoping na mapasa na nato ang policy kay kani nga problema is very urgent and over emphasized na jud na problem ang plastic pollution in the city ug kinahanglan na jud mabuhatan ug policy para very strong ang efforts to reduce plastic use in Davao City, ” Felices said.
