(MANILA BULLETIN)

On the occasion of Earth Month this April, Davao City 1st district Rep. Paolo Dutere is highlighting a measure he filed earlier in the 19th Congress seeking to regulate the manufacture, sale, use, and importation of single-use plastic products.

The measure, House Bill (HB) No.507, also covers the distribution, recovery, collection, recycling, and disposal of single-use plastic products.

It has been pending before the Committee on Ecology since July 26, 2022.

“As we mark Earth Day on April 22, I urge my colleagues in Congress to act on this bill and similar other pending measures so that we can finally phase out single-use plastic products, which remain among the most pervasive kind of waste that pollute our land, choke our oceans and bring harm to our precious marine resources,” Duterte said.

Duterte pointed out that in Davao City, an ordinance banning single-use plastics, and regulating their sale and distribution, has been in place since 2021. His Congressional District Office in Davao City also earlier launched the "Save the Earth--No To Plastics Bags" Movement.

While the House of Representatives had already approved on third and final reading a bill that would impose a P100 excise tax on every kilogram of  single-use plastic bags, a measure regulating the eventual phaseout of these and other similar products, along with the proper way of recycling and disposing of them have yet to be enacted, the Mindanaoan said.

HB No.507 covers other single-use plastics, such as  plastic utensils and tableware, containers, packaging, drinking straws, stirrers, sachets and pouches.

The measure “seeks to develop an integrated and comprehensive policy for plastic waste management, particularly the regulation of the production, importation, sale, distribution, provision, use, recovery, collection, recycling, and disposal of single-use plastics".

The bill states that the Philippines is one of the world’s worst offenders when it comes to marine plastic pollution, with 280,000 to 750,000 tons per year of plastic entering the oceans from coastal areas in Manila Bay.

“This is equivalent to 60 billion plastic sachets per year, majority of which are single-use plastics such as plastic drinking bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, plastic grocery bags, plastic lids, straws and stirrers, other types of plastic bags, and foam take-away containers,” the bill stated.

Benguet lone district Rep. Eric Yap, Quezon City 2nd district Rep. Ralph Tulfo, and ACT-CIS Partylist Reps. Edvic Yap and Jocelyn Tulfo co-authored HB No.507.