Aurora Solon files bill against plastic pollution

Congressman Juan Edgardo Angara, representing the lone district of Aurora, has filed a bill which intends to curb plastic pollution.

House Bills 496 or the proposed Plastic Bag Recycling Act of 2010 and House Bill 501 or the proposed Stores Proactive in Plastic Bag Recycling Act of 2010 both bills promoting the reduction of plastics usage, encourage the use of alternative and reusable bags, like canvass or cloth, and devise retrieval and recycling mechanisms for the benefit of the environment.

In a news release posted on the government website just now, Angara explains the need for the law:

The bills seek to establish at-store retrieval and recycling program will be instituted to provide consumers an easier way to partake in this environmental initiative.

"The use of plastic bags must be reduced. This may be achieved by requiring retailers to establish a recycling mechanism for plastic bags and encouraging consumers to use reusable bags," Angara said.

"In the United States, a similar, but seemingly more progressive, move is being pushed to publicly track corporate plastics usage and management plans in the hopes of reducing plastic pollution around the world," Angara said.

Launched at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in Florida, the "Plastics Disclosure Project" takes its cue from the Carbon Disclosure Project's carbon and water program.

"The project aims to come out with a comprehensive report on every company's plastic usage and encourage the world's investment community to help reduce plastic use, redesign their products and identify programs where money can be saved when it comes to plastic," Angara said.

Plastic bags are just part of the plastic pollution generated by companies in the Philippines.

Unilever, San Miguel, Nestle, Procter and Gamble, and other lesser known companies earn billions of pesos from selling products in plastic sachets.

The latest sachet commercial I've seen is the Uno Dos Tres Quatro of Vaseline Shampoo.



Of course, being marketed to the lower income bracket, I can predict a surge in sales that will eventually mean MORE discarded plastic sachets ending up in our country's landfills, waterways, and seas.

Do you think Unilever will pay for cleaning up the mess they create?

I just hope that Congressman Angara, in pursuing this bill, also checks into the plastic pollution generated by companies that use plastic sachet packaging.

Sana magkaruon ng hearing in aid of legislation para magkaalaman kung sino talaga ang pinaka-grabeng plastic polluter.