Plastic ban starts: Use eco-bags, vendors told
Satellite market vendors in Mandaue City are encouraged to use eco or reusable bags as checkout bags for their customers as the city government implements the 2010 Plastic Ban Ordinance today.
Ernie Manatad, Association of Barangay Councils president, said barangay tanods and eco-wardens would serve as the enforcement team of the ordinance.
“We will warn them siguro. Tagaan namo silag warning mark violation depende ni unsay reaction ugma (We will just give them a warning mark for the violation, but this will depend on their reaction tomorrow),” said Manatad, who is the Subangdaku barangay captain.
He said they would need the cooperation of the public to make this undertaking successful.
“This is for our common goal. No program of the government will be successful kung way support sa public,” Manatad added.
Info drive
Manatad said the enforcement of the ordinance was moved to today from Monday since the city government wanted to conduct more information dissemination about the ordinance.
He said they had already started their information dissemination in the barangays especially those with satellite markets.
“There were a lot of questions like what to use instead of plastic bags. But we explained to them that the city is serious in its campaign against the use of plastic bags, and they should require their customers to bring their eco-bags,” said Manatad.
He also advised business owners, who still had stocks of plastic bags left, to ask suppliers whether they could return these plastic bags to them.
Since Thursday this week, the city already posted the contents of the ordinance in the city’s official Facebook page with video support showing the situation in the city during a heavy downpour.
Jocelyn Cando, owner of a sari-sari store in Mandaue Market, has been selling plastic bags for three years.
“Consumo ra unta ni namo ang plastics, unya kay daghan man akong kumprahon sa Carbon, naay mo hangyo nga mopalit baligyaan ra pud namo (These are supposed to be for our personal use, but since we buy a lot of plastic bags in Carbon market, some of our customers would request that we buy them plastic bags also),” Cando said.
Shift to paper bags
She said she was not against the implementation of the plastic ban ordinance and, in fact, she had already started shifting to selling paper bags (bulsita).
She said she was hoping that the city government would strictly enforce the ordinance.
Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis “Luigi” Quisumbing ordered the strict implementation of the plastic ban ordinance after the city experienced widespread flooding during a heavy downpour early this month.
The city government found out that plastic garbage, which clogged waterways had contributed to the floods.
The ordinance prohibits all stores, shops, eating places, food vendors, carenderias or sari-sari stores, and retail food vendors from using plastic bags in their businesses.
It requires them to instead provide their customers with paper bags, cloth bags or recyclable or reusable bags as their checkout bags.
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