By PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA — Ilongga senator Miriam Defensor–Santiago is pushing for a recycling program in retail stores in the country.
Under an “in-store recycling program,” retail stores will be required to let customers return plastic bags and to provide collection bins for plastic bags, Santiago’s Senate Bill 2349 said.
The measure encourages the use of reusable bags made of cloth.
Shopping and grocery establishments must have their plastic bags printed with the words, “Please return to a participating store for recycling,” the bill said.
Aside from “[contaminating] soil and waterways,” plastic bags enter the food web when animals ingest them, the feisty senator said in filing the bill.
Section 5 of the bill states that stores violating the “Plastic Bag Recycling Act” will be fined with between P100,000 and P300,000.
“The elimination of these plastic bags will do much to save and protect the environment,” said Santiago.
Santiago previously filed Senate Bill 2337, which seeks to ban the use of plastic bags in all retail stores.
A fine of between P20,000 and P500,000 shall be imposed on any establishment violating the “Total Ban on Single-use Carryout Bags Act.”
Using plastic items is “unsafe” and “causes major flooding in urban areas,” she stressed./PN
