Greenpeace together with the Break Free From Plastic coalition conduct a beach cleanup activity and plastics brand audit on Freedom Island off the coast of Manila in in 2017. (Greenpeace photo by Daniel Müller)
Jul 31 2021
Pro-environment groups lauded the approval this week of a measure in the House of Representatives that seeks the gradual phaseout and ban of single-use plastic products in the country.
Legislators approved the “Single-Use Plastic Products Regulation Act” on July 28 with 190 affirmative votes, zero negative, and one abstention.
Father Antonio Labiao, lead convenor of the National Laudato Si Program of the Philippine Catholic Church, described the move a “a step closer to realizing better plastic waste disposal.”
“We are hoping that this legislative measure continues to be a priority until its enforcement,” said the priest who is also executive secretary of Caritas Philippines.
Father Labiao urged the public to follow the initiatives of various local government units, people’s organizations, and church communities “who have turned their plastic wastes to better use.”
Under the proposed measure, non-compostable single-use plastic products “will be phased out within four years” from the time the measure takes effect.
Read the full news in LiCAS.news.
