By FELIPE V. CELINO
ROXAS City – Starting this month, the city government here will implement “No Plastic Day” four times a week.
Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, plastic bags are banned as packing materials.
Councilor Powell del Rosario authored City Ordinance No. 030-2011 that prohibits business establishments or individuals from selling or providing plastic bags as packing materials to consumers.
The ordinance aims to reduce, if not totally eliminate, the use of plastic bags and polystyrene foams as packing materials in stores.
It encourages business establishments and individuals to use alternative and eco-friendly packing materials such as woven bags or bayong, cloth or paper bags, and other similar materials.
The ordinance was first implemented on Wednesdays since it took effect last August 5, 2011.
The ban later became twice a week.
“Actually, the four times a week implementation was scheduled to start in the middle of last year yet, but due to the request of vendors and business establishments, it was put on hold,” del Rosario said.
Early last year, a series of “surprise” inspections was conducted by the Roxas City Task Force on Environmental Protection (RCTFEP) to check the compliance of commercial establishments.
Under the ordinance, individual violators will be meted with P500 and P1,000 fine for the first and second offenses, respectively, while a third violation will penalize him or her with P2,000 fine and/or imprisonment of not more than six months on the discretion of the court.
The same penalties apply to business establishments except that the penalty for the third offense may include the cancellation of their business licenses for a year.
