Just recently, the Office of the City Mayor released Executive Order No. 043, an “executive order to ban the bringing and use of ‘unnecessary’ single-use plastic products in public parks, esplanades, and plazas”, cemented on Republic Act No. 9003, known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 Section 2 – ensuring protection of public health and environment. The order cites Article IV, Section 30, of Republic Act 9003: “Prohibition on the Use of Non-Environmentally Acceptable Packaging”.
It states “no person owning, operating, or conducting a commercial establishment in the country shall sell or convey at retail or possess with the intent to sell or convey at retail any products that are placed, wrapped, or packaged in on packaging which is not environmentally acceptable packaging.” This includes “non-biodegradable plastics derived primarily from crude oil, natural gas or coal, which these types of plastic cannot be broken down by microbes to decay.”
In line with this, the Iloilo City Government urges the public to follow the implementation of the plastic ban, which forms part of the government’s solid waste avoidance and minimization strategy.
