Legarda, a Filipino Environmentalist, Refiles Bill to Ban Single-Use Plastics
Senator Loren Legarda has proposed a bill to ban single-use plastics and improve corporate responsibility systems to combat the nation's rising plastic pollution crisis.
Legarda said that the habit and mentality toward single-use plastics should be changed by adopting more sustainable practices such as recycling, consumption reduction, and efficient trash disposal to mitigate the negative consequences of waste pollution.
Legarda said in a statement, "The plastic crisis we face right now calls for rethinking our approaches to our governance and market systems and operations. We need to sustain this growing movement on sustainability and circularity by improving our policies, implementing more adequate interventions from the public and private sectors, and opening more spaces where citizens can support and take the lead in addressing single-use plastics."
Legarda also requested that businesses implement more effective rules and solutions for plastic waste management and suggested that customers be incentivised to reduce plastic pollution.
She urged a stronger implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, which mandates the installation of recovery facilities in barangays and the publication of a list of non-environmentally acceptable materials and products.
According to the World Bank's 2021 report on Plastic Circularity, just 22 per cent of the overall material value of plastics is unlocked in the Philippines, resulting in annual material value losses of millions of dollars for the country's economy.
Source: INQUIRER.NET
