Mayor Beng Climaco wrote a letter yesterday instructing the city’s market superintendent to implement the zero plastic tolerance policy following the launching last week of a new material recovery facility (MRF) in Salaan.

Climaco said the city of Zamboanga now joins other local government units throughout the country that have been banning the use of plastic, which is being thought of as the major culprit in blocking the drainage system. Hence, flooding is imminent whenever there is rainfall.

The mayor appealed for public support and cooperation in the implementation of the plastic ban, stressing that plastic is a pollutant and once it reaches to or thrown into the sea waters it kills marine life.

The plastic ban prohibits the sale, distribution and use of plastic bags as primary and secondary packaging materials for dry goods and as secondary packaging materials for wet goods.

To recall, Senator Loren Legarda has filed a bill in the Senate (SB No. 2759), an act prohibiting the use of plastic bags in groceries, restaurants and other establishments, and providing penalties for violations thereof.

The bill remains pending in the Senate committees concerned since its filing in 2011.

However, around 27 local government units nationwide have on their own implemented the plastic ban through an ordinance or executive orders, citing the plastic’s effects on the environment.

Study showed that the unrelenting and neglectful use of plastic bags is a worldwide phenomenon.-(Vic Larato)