The business sector has appealed before the local government of Davao City to defer the implementation of the Davao City Ecological Solid Waste Management Ordinance banning the use of plastic bags and polystyrene foam as food and beverage containers that will take effect on June 28.
Solid Waste Management Board division chief of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) Dolly Remojo said some manufacturers, vendors associations, store owners and other business establishments at a recent consultation meeting appealed to the board to delay the implementation as they have yet to get rid of the old plastics which are non-biodegradable and shift to the use of biodegradable plastics as prescribed under the ordinance.
The group at the same time appealed that wet food products be exempted from the ban.
Remojo said the group has already consolidated their appeal in Board Resolution No. 8 of the Solid Waste Management Board.
The resolution is due for the approval or otherwise by Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, she said, adding that the resolution will be released by the Board anytime soon.
She said the manufacturers present at the consultation expressed their willingness to adopt the use of biodegradable plastics.
However, they said the use of said plastics is costly, hence, would result in an increase in the market price of food and beverage.
Pending the decision of Mayor Duterte-Carpio on the resolution, CENRO chief Joseph Dominique Felizarta had earlier said the office would push through with the implementation of the ban on June 28 as provided under the Ordinance, Remojo said.
Earlier, Councilor Melchor Quitain raised a suggestion to amend the ordinance due to some gray areas. He specifically cited that the ordinance is not so clear if the ban includes plastic bottles for mineral water and other beverages and if imported food and beverage products that are stored in non-biodegradable plastics shall also be banned.
But Felizarta said it is the Solid Waste Management Board that should push for the amendment.
Effective June 28, the ordinance provides that violators will be fined from P300 to as high as P5,000 or imprisoned up to six month, he added. [PNA]
