According to the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), it is now talking to business owners here about its plan to ban the use of plastic bags and Styrofoam as packing materials inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
“From an overall environmental and economic perspective, the best thing the SBMA can do is to require retail establishments to refrain from using plastic bags and Styrofoam, and shift to reusable nonplastic carry-out bags or biodegradable materials,” said SBMA Chairman Roberto Garcia.
“This is why we have tasked our Ecology Center to consult with stakeholders here and explain the policy guidelines to affected businesses, and later to implement and monitor the effective implementation of the new policy,” Garcia said.
Data from the SBMA Solid Waste Management Division indicate that almost 35 tons of garbage are collected every day from businesses and residential buildings inside the free port zone. Of these, 15 percent or 6.5 tons are plastic and Styrofoam, which are mostly used as packaging materials.
Garcia said that uncollected garbage, including plastics, “usually end up clogging canals, creeks, rivers and other waterways, thus posing a significant source of marine debris.”
“These are hazardous to marine animals and birds,” he added, pointing out that Subic is among the few remaining areas in the country where rainforests can be found.
Garcia said the proposed policy to reduce, if not totally eliminate, plastic bags and Styrofoam containers would help protect public health and welfare as well as the local environment and wildlife.
The policy becomes necessary, Garcia said, because the SBMA “is mandated to conserve and protect the environment of the Subic Freeport as well as its surrounding communities.”
In a consultation-forum with Subic business locators, SBMA Ecology Center Manager Amethya Koval said the proposed policy is expected to take effect in June this year. However, for the purpose of moratorium, all business establishments and individual retailers are given six months, or until December this year, to comply with the new regulation.
Koval added that after December 2012, retail establishments will no longer be allowed to use plastic bags as packaging materials for dry or wet goods, or use Styrofoam containers for food, produce and other products. Violators will be fined accordingly.
Koval said, however, that goods delivered to Subic in their original plastic packaging will not be covered by the ban unless these are repacked in plastic or Styrofoam by retailers in this free port.
SBMA officials said the proposed policy has received the full support of local businesses, including owners of restaurants, canteens and food kiosks although business people had expressed concern over the availability of alternative packaging materials they may use.
Kristy Dizon, who operates the Ed-Beng Kiosk here, said they need some time to find alternative materials to replace plastic cups, bags and Styrofoam they now use.
Liway Santiago of Pideli Café asked fellow operators to practice the proper disposal of plastics while alternative materials are not yet available.
College of Subic Montessori Principal Imee Lacbain Alejo said that manufacturers of alternative packaging materials be invited to Subic to exhibit their merchandise so that locators here would know the environment-friendly products now available in the market.
