Some members of the Davao City Council believe the citywide total ban on single use plastic should not be implemented immediately as it will have an economic implication.
“Let us not immediately ban in an instant it because we also have to think of our businessmen who has still stocks of these plastics,” Councilor Maria Belen Sunga Acosta said on Tuesday during the Pulong-Pulong ni Pulong press conference at the Sanggunian Panlungsod.
Acosta, an environment advocate, said that the implementation should have a gradual phase out as she believes it may have an impact on employment. She said that there are some manufacturers who will cut down on manpower if they stop producing these prodicts.
Another councilor, Mary Joselle Villafuerte said the city should reinforce the Solid Waste Management ordinance that was passed in 2012.
Villafuerte is suggesting that there should be a separate day in the collection of plastic wastes so that residents and other establishments will be encouraged to separate their garbage.
The city government has been mulling on the total phase out of the single-use plastics to protect the environment.
In August last year, the city government initiated the banning of all disposable plastic items such as drinking cups and mineral bottles during meetings, conferences and official events.
Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, herself, is pushing for the plastic ban saying these products are the root causes of pollutants in the coastal areas in the city.
In a previous report, the mayor said that plastics bottles and sachets were among the items collected during the Bantay Dagat cleanup project.
Solid Waste Management is one of the 10-priority agenda of Mayor Sara.
