Antipolo Bans Styrofoam and Plastic Bags

ANTIPOLO CITY, Philippines — Business establishments are now required to adhere to the local government’s policy on the ban on the use of Styrofoam as packaging and the regulation on the use of plastic bags in this city.

This came as the two-year moratorium on City Ordinance 2009-370, which prohibits the use of plastic bags on dry goods and regulates its utilization on wet goods and prohibits the use of Styrofoam in the city, ended on Nov. 3, 2011.

Based on the ordinance, which has been disseminated to the public through the city’s Public Information Office, the use and storage of Styrofoam as containers for food, produce and other products shall now be illegal.

It is now also prohibited to use plastic bags on dry goods as primary packaging materials. However, on wet goods, business establishments shall only use plastic bags as primary packaging materials only.

Options for the business establishments include the use of environment-friendly packaging materials or biodegradable alternatives that include reusable materials, and paper bags, bayong, cloth bags, newspapers, used papers and many others.

The presence in the commercial establishment of significant quantity of non-environmentally acceptable packaging like Styrofoam and plastic bags shall constitute a rebuttable presumption of intent to sell or convey the same to customers.

The office of Mayor Danilo Leyble has yet to issue an update on the implementation of the ordinance as of Monday.

Penalties for the violators range from P500 or community service for not less than 6 hours for the first offense to P5,000 or imprisonment of not more than six months and for business establishments, the cancellation of their license to operate for one year for the fourth offense.

It was learned that major business establishments including SM Masinag, Shopwise, National Bookstore and Budget Lane Super Palengke have started using biodegradable packaging containers even prior to the start of the implementation of the environment-friendly ordinance.

The city’s mobile public address system has been making the rounds of the city as part of the city government’s information campaign on the ban on plastic bags and “styro” containers here.