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Solon pushes nationwide ban on single-use plastic

FOLLOWING the call of Finance Sec. and Climate Change Commission (CCC) Chairperson Carlos Dominguez to ban single-use plastic, a House leader has appealed to his colleagues and urged them to support legislation aimed at “preserving our environment for future generations of Filipinos.”

According to Deputy Speaker and Manila Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr., with barely 18 months left in the 18th Congress, “the times call for us in the House to pass landmark legislation that will have a long-term, positive effect on the environment: a nationwide ban on single-use plastic.”

“Let us leave a concrete and lasting legacy for our children, grandchildren, and their children––let us be remembered as the Congress that ushered in the end of plastic pollution in the Philippines,” Abante said.

Abante is the author of House Bill (HB) 3773 or the “Single-use Plastic Product Ban of 2019.”

The measure, if passed, would prohibit the manufacture, importation, sale, and use of all single-use products one year after the effectivity of the law.

The bill defines single-use plastic as “disposable plastic products which are commonly used for packaging and include items to be used only once that are thrown away or recycled,” such as grocery bags, food packaging containers and bags, water bottles, straws, stirrers, styrofoam, cups, sachets, and plastic cutlery.

In a virtual meeting with the Management Association of the Philippines, Dominguez said “we don’t have a lot of time left, so let’s limit our efforts to getting something important passed and this is doable,” referring the passage of legislation banning single-use plastic.

The ranking member of the government’s economic team stated that it would be a priority project of the CCC.

Abante stressed that the House “should view this as a signal to aggressively and enthusiastically work to pass HB 3773 and similar measures at the soonest possible time.”