'Ecology bureau key to plastic ban issue, waste management'

MANILA, Philippines - A government agency that is supposed to play a key role in solid waste segregation and management and in the development of a recycling market has yet to be organized 12 years after its existence was legislated.

The National Ecology Center, mandated to be established under the Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 (RA 9003), is supposed to guide the government on steps needed to enforce waste segregation, recovery and recycling.

“In so many ways, this center will provide the scientific support for measures to keep cities and municipalities clean and environmentally friendly in terms of waste management,” said Peter Quintana, president of the Philippine Plastics Industry Association, Inc.

The plastic ban, Quintana said, has no scientific backing and creates new problems and inconveniences, which explains why cities abroad that tried it before have backtracked and resorted to regulating instead of banning plastic use.

“We hope this center is organized soonest because the plastic ban is taking its toll on the industry and on the public which has lost access to an all-weather, all-purpose material that is food safe and very convenient,” he said.

Quintana said the ban also has environmental costs since to produce one 183-gram cotton bag requires the use of 320 gallons of water. Also, to make one paper bag requires one gallon of clean water, which is what it takes to make 116 plastic bags.

He said the plastic ban is founded on nothing more than the misimpression that plastic bags cause floods.

“This is not science at work. Plastic is only a small part of the total debris. The real reason is our refusal to properly dispose of our waste, be it plastic, paper, rubber, wood, etc. This is where the National Ecology Center is needed,” he said.

The proposed center is also mandated to develop a national recycling network which is very important, he said, because it will generate businesses devoted to keeping the country clean while at the same time creating jobs and small business opportunities nationwide.

The center is strategically important in addressing the plastic issue and the bigger waste management problem, he said.