WOULD expanding the coverage of Cebu City Ordinance (CO) 2343 be enough to instill discipline and minimize the sale and use of plastic bags?
Last April, opposition Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia filed a draft ordinance amending CO 2343, which regulates the sale and use of plastic shopping bags every Saturday.
The City Council passed the measure in 2012. A year later, it was expanded to include Wednesdays.
Garcia, though, wants the plastic ban to be in effect seven days a week. He pointed out that the rampant use and “irresponsible” disposal of plastic bags have clogged the city’s drainage system.
For a non-government organization, there should be enforcement, efficient social system, and education to ensure the ordinance is effective.
In a position paper dated July 2, the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation-Integrated Development Office Inc. (JPIC-IDC) said it is not enough to just pass ordinances prohibiting the use of plastic shopping bags.
“It is equally important to deputize law enforcers to reprimand and penalize people throwing plastic materials everywhere they like,” reads a portion of the position paper.
It added that in Rwanda, a Central African country, police officers are deputized to penalize people throwing plastic materials, even candy wrappers, on the streets.
However, cleanliness will not be achieved without proper education.
“It is highly recommended that the Cebu City Government invest time and resources to sensitize and educate the people through the different barangays concerning this ordinance and the harmful effects of plastics,” JPIC-IDC said.
A public hearing on the proposed legislation is scheduled on the regular session on Tuesday, July 17.
The City Government, though, has already started taking steps in the same direction by no longer allowing single-use plastics in City Hall starting Aug. 1.
In a memorandum signed last July 3, Mayor Tomas Osmeña banned single-use plastics every day in City Hall, an order that also covers food vendors.
Campaigners who participated in World Environment Day last June focused on the harm that plastic causes.
Up to 91 percent of plastic waste does not get recycled, the United Nations Environment Program pointed out. An estimated eight million metric tons of plastic ends up in the world’s oceans every year.
“There is more microplastic in the oceans than there are stars in the Milky Way,” the Earth Day group has said. “If plastic pollution isn’t curbed, plastics will outweigh fish pound for pound by 2050.”