City's bizmen comply with plastic, styro ban

AN OFFICIAL of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) reported on Thursday higher compliance rate among business establishments in Davao City on the ban of non-biodegradable plastic bags and polystyrene (styro) foam.

Lawyer Joseph Dominic Felizarta, Cenro chief, said of the 29,000 business establishments registered in the city, at least 90 percent of which are already complying with the provisions of the city's Ecological and Solid Waste Management Ordinance, particularly on banning non-biodegradable plastic bags (with handle) and styro foams use.

"Murag aware naman halos tanan business establishments sa (Almost all business establishments here are already aware about the) plastic ban especially ang mga dagko na mga (major) malls and grocery stores," Felizarta said.

As of Thursday, Felizarta said Cenro had arrested at least 450 erring businesses violating the plastic ban.

Felizarta said they are already assessing if they can file appropriate cases against these violators, most of whom are in the food sector, vendors in various public markets, among others.

Felizarta also said businesses that are using plastics in their daily operations, especially those types of plastics that are explicitly included in the prohibited types, need not to spend too much since there are lots of local manufacturer of biodegradable plastics in Davao City.

Based on their monitoring, he said, there are at least 10 local manufacturers of biodegradable plastics in Davao City that sell their products at a very cheap prize.