Thursday, May 08, 2008 Councilor: Shun plastic bags, go for biodegradable By Grace L. Plata
COUNCILOR Pilar Braga urged the public to refrain from using ordinary plastic bags and opt for Oxo-Biodegradable Plastics (OBPs), which are now available in Davao City.
OBPs, she explained during her privilege speech Tuesday, are plastics mixed with some stuff designed to break down the chemical structure of plastics and cause the wrapper to degrade in time, just like natural products.
Braga said this is something that a regular person can do for the environment so as not to aggravate the damage that has been done.
"The continued use of plastic bags have created many problems, foremost of which is the way they take up landfill space, where it will stay intact into the next few millennia. That's for the plastic bags that do make their way into garbage disposal systems. Other plastic bags stray into waterways, including the ocean, where they kill marine life. These also block drainage systems," she said.
Bangladesh banned plastic bags in 2002, identifying them as the leading cause of severe flooding.
"When plastic bags clog drains, they also create stagnant pools of water that become a resort for mosquitoes and other disease-causing insects. I'm wondering if the rise in dengue in the Philippines might have something to do with the plastic bags in our rivers and creeks," Braga said.
Ironically, Braga said, plastic bags were first introduced some 50 years ago as an environmentalist measure, specifically to save trees. Paper bags were being used then, and there were concerns that all those bags were contributing to deforestation.
"OBPs are widely used now. End users are adopting OBPs also known as green bags as an effective way to offer to the customers' environmentally responsible packaging," Braga said.
She added that the green bag, which is made of is recyclable, non-toxic, and allergy free material can last for approximately two years or more than 100 grocery trips.
