The Dumaguete City government is calling on women to support the enforcement of an ordinance that aims to reduce the use of plastic bags.

In a forum on the Women’s Month celebration, City Administrator William Ablon sought the help of women  to ensure the successful implementation of City Ordinance 231, starting August this year.

He said women need to be aware about this ordinance because they will be the most to be affected by it since they do most of the home-keeping and grocery shopping.

The ordinance prohibits vendors from providing plastic bags to consumers as secondary packaging material for wet goods like fish, vegetables, and meat even if the customers demand for it.

Plastic bags as primary packaging for dry foodstuff, such as canned goods, will also be banned five months from now, Ablong said, adding that re-usable shopping bags or baskets should instead be used.

The cooperation of women in the law’s implementation will help achieve the city’s aim of making sure that residents and business establishments reduce their use and dependence on plastics, including the disposable food packaging styrofoam.

Local officials had blamed plastic bags and non-biodegradable litters for clogging drainage canals, resulting in the heavy floods that hit Dumaguete in 2009 and 2011.

Shortly after the 2009 flooding, the City Environment and Natural Resources Office said it “fished out” almost 200 kilos of plastic waste from the wastewater treatment facility in Dumaguete.*PIA

back to top