SUGBO Mercado Food Bazaar Inc.(SMFBI) is going plastic free.
The company, which runs Sugbo Mercado Food Bazaar and The Market, has joined companies that commit to help protect and preserve the environment.
“This first step is to create a plastic-free market by 2020,” said SMFBI in the The Market’s Facebook page.
SMFBI marketing and communications director Michael Karlo Lim said they have been implementing it since the third quarter of 2018.
They have replaced plastic straws with cornstarch straws. They are also transitioning from plastic cups to paper cups. Some vendors are also using disposable utensils supplied by iWood.
According to Lim, this measure is all part of their sustainability campaign.
“Trash is a logistical cost to begin with. For now, we are starting to slowly phase out single-use non-biodegradables by categories. We are ultimately moving towards lowering overall operational byproducts,” he said.
Given the the food markets’ high following, they expect results of the campaign to have a huge impact.
The four-year-old Sugbo Mercado enjoys a foot traffic of approximately 5,000 from Thursday to Sunday.
The Market, on the other hand, which opened last year, enjoys foot traffic of approximately 2,000 per night from Tuesday to Sunday.
Other forms of plastic packaging will soon be recycled to tables and chairs, which will be donated to various charities.
According to a report released by the United States-based non-profit organization Ocean Conservancy, the Philippines produces 2.7 million metric tons (MT) of plastic waste every year, with half a million MT believed to end up in the Pacific Ocean.
Other countries cited in the report were China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Ocean Conservancy said coordinated action in these five countries could significantly reduce the global leakage of plastic waste into the ocean.
Moreover, the group noted that plastic-waste leakage in the Philippines comes primarily from local plastic consumption.
In past interviews, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) president Antonio Chiu had suggested making consumers pay for the plastic they use.
Chiu said if people paid for plastic bags, this would compel them to bring their own the next time they went shopping. This would also encourage manufacturers to make their bags nicer and reusable.
Chiu said plastics should not be banned outright, and instead urged manufacturers to innovate by making it thicker so it could be resued and recycled.
Two House bills were filed in the Lower House that seek to impose a P10-excise tax on plastic bag use.
House Bill 8523, authored by Sultan Kudarat Rep. Horacio Suansing Jr. (2nd district), proposes “to impose excise tax on plastic bags used in supermarkets, malls, shops, stores, sales outlets and other similar establishments.” House Bill 8558, authored by Manila Rep. John Marvin Nieto (3rd district), seeks to have establishments impose a P10-excise tax on plastic bags on customers at the point of sale.
This tax will be imposed on establishments whose gross receipts in the preceding year exceeded P100,000, or on newly registered businesses with the capitalization of at least P100,000. (KOC)