Plastic ban
By ching128
@ching128 (27)
Philippines
September 14, 2012 12:24am CST
I wish that supermarkets and malls, i mean all, should encourage shoppers to bring their own reusable bags to lessen the usage if plastics. When we went to SM Southmall, they don't use plastic bags anymore but paper bags instead and i can see shoppers using their own reusable bags.
I hope all cities would do that.
2 people like this
17 responses
@yahnee (1243)
• Philippines
14 Sep 12
Using those paper bags is very inconvenient. I bought some frozen foods from the grocery and they placed it inside the paper bag. Within a few minutes, the paper was wet and I had to use my handkerchief for support. I did not bring along a shopping bag because I didn't know that they have already implemented paper bags. However, the meat, chicken, fish and other items are still packed in transparent plastic bags, so what is the difference? Will these transparent plastic packages not enough to clog the canals and waterways? What the groceries and supermarkets did was to do away with the recyclable plastic bags but maintained the usage of the transparent plastic which is what we throw away. In Jollibee the drinks are still placed in disposable plastic glasses without any straw and placed in a paper bag for take out. It seemed crazy not being able to drink the coke because there was no straw but the container itself was plastic including the spoons and forks. Next time, do we have to bring our own glass and straw too for take out? I just don't get the idea.
@ching128 (27)
• Philippines
14 Sep 12
I mean no disrespect but i can still drink coke even without straw. It's just we have been so used to drinking with straws that drinking without them would take a lot of effort.
And if we can't stop using plastic, maybe just lessen it. If we buy for example a blouse from a mall, they put it in a plastic bag. Then after we saw a nice scarf, we can ask the personnel in the cashier to just put it in your plastic bag with the blouse than use a separate one. This way we saved 1 bag. It is better than nothing.
@yahnee (1243)
• Philippines
14 Sep 12
I do get your point but how do i drink coke on a moving vehicle with my other arm carrying the paper bag and the glass of coke in one hand without a straw? It certainly is possible but not convenient. Regarding the paper bags, how many trees will have to be cut to maintain a supply of paper? Based on a recent article on the Washington Post, 10 billion paper bags are consumed in the US yearly and this takes up as much energy and resources that has a negative consequence to the environment. Paper bags also take much room in the landfills as opposed to plastic bags. Since wood is used in manufacturing paper, how many trees will be cut off just to maintain a steady supply for our daily use? The production of paper bags consume a lot of energy which means more greenhouse gas emissions which is more than can be handled by the atmosphere. The same post on the newspaper as earlier stated indicates that it takes 4x more energy to manufacture a paper bag than a plastic bag. What I want to point out is responsible use of plastic due to its convenience for everyday life. Even if we use paper if people will remain to dispose of it in canals and waterways,the same will be the results.
@romzee (937)
• Philippines
14 Sep 12
I completely disagree with you, ching128. We are attacking the problem in the wrong direction. Plastic is good but the way we dispose it that creates the problem. Lessening the use of plastic will definitely help but this again will bring another problem to our plastic industry and to those family employed by this manufacturers.
The government should be blame for not implementing properly the 'garbage segregation'. I am definitely Yes to reusable bags but Paper bags is a NO NO!
1 person likes this
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
15 Sep 12
I am glad that here in our province, the use of eco bag and brown paper instead of the plastic bags have already been implemented last May. 
Now you can see a lot of people shopping with their own colorful ecobags.
I really hope the whole Philippines will be having the plastic ban already. It would be a great help for preventing floods. 
Now you can see a lot of people shopping with their own colorful ecobags.
I really hope the whole Philippines will be having the plastic ban already. It would be a great help for preventing floods. 
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
17 Sep 12
Oh well, some people can really be hard headed. Your government ought to be stricter.
@surekharathi (14146)
• India
17 Sep 12
I agree with you my friend everywhere plastic bag should ban. In India most of the places is ban but even after ban some vendors are using this.
@rsa101 (37932)
• Philippines
14 Sep 12
SM megamall still uses plastic bags since there is no ordinance in Mandaluyong regarding the use of the plastic. But on our own initiative we decided to bring our own reusable bags and we just ask for plastic bag for our meat products since it is not practical to have them on the reusable bags. So far our plastic bags at home are primarily used when we are disposing of garbage.
@ARIES1973 (11426)
• Legaspi, Philippines
14 Sep 12
Hi ching! Actually, we already have an ordinance prohibiting the use of plastic in our province since june of this year. What I am doing is that I brought with me a shopping bag everytime I went to the supermarket. This way I will not be using paper bags anymore.
@Raine38 (12257)
• United States
14 Sep 12
Our city is on its second year of no plastic bill. That is why we are one of tose few who weren't affected by the torrential rains' flooding. While it may be too uncomfortable at first because we're used to the sturdy plastic, we have learned to adapt. I sure hope that most cities will see the benefit behind this.
@nhieleiko (109)
• Philippines
15 Sep 12
Yuh. It should be implemented in other places in the Philippines. But, if you will go to a dry market, they all use plastic bags. So, how can we encourage them to use paper bags since plastic bags are cheaper? Hope our government can do something about it.
@chiyosan (30184)
• Philippines
15 Sep 12
Hi ching! we are already having this implemented in the city (qc, manila) supermarkets here and even convenient stores are banned from giving out plastic bags. you just have to bring your own bag when you shop... but then if you forgot to bring yours, oops you will have to pay 2 pesos for each plastic bag used.
@alt_tla (27)
• Philippines
19 Sep 12
Ban them? Is that the only solution? How about SELL THEM? For P20 each. That would really discourage people to use plastic bags provided in stores, yet still gives them the option just in case things get too inconvenient (ie. they left their eco-bags, they bought frozen/wet goods).
I find this paper bag policy under-research. I was a college student in UP Los Banos when Laguna first implemented the plastic ban. I read about it on my own in the internet, and several sites agree that it's just as destructive as using plastic.
I seriously wish they consider selling the plastic bags. If there's one thing that discourages Filipinos, it's having to pay more for stuff, or having to pay at all.
@diamania (7011)
• Netherlands
15 Sep 12
In one of the bigger supermarket here they stopped giving away those very weak plastic bags. Instead they have those stronger plastic bags on which a message is printed saying that it should be reused. They also have a corner with boxes you can take. Those boxes would otherwise be thrown away. They also started asking people whether or not they would like to receive the receipt, if you don't want one it isn't printed and if you do it's printed on FSC approved paper. This is just a small selection of things this supermarket does to be more environmental friendly.
@kheydia (882)
• Philippines
17 Sep 12
I strongly agree with that, if the management of the malls and all shopping malls in the country would really be strict in letting their customers use their reusable shopping bags so that they wont have to use plastic bags, our place would be a better pllace tp live and a lesser trash, and seldom floods...
@watchamacallitz (1171)
• Philippines
15 Sep 12
I think it should be implemented all around the globe - no more plasticbags! :) we are helping our environment with these paper bags and we should also recycle those bags and not throw it away after use.
@vidhyaprakash_2 (7116)
• India
17 Sep 12
Hi friend, in my place most of the super markets keep the board in their entrance stated that "Avoid using plastic bags", we all are carrying a reusable bag or shopping bag while going to shopping, it is really hard to see a plastic bag and polythene bag in our place, since they are completely banned here
@fatlex06 (895)
• Philippines
14 Sep 12
Just last May, my province implemented that kind of policy. It's good but there are still some advantages like if you are going to buy a lot of things at the grocery or even buy some big things that can't fit in the paper bag. Some people can't carry it specially if they will go somewhere after shopping. But this kind of practice, I mean the usage of paper and eco bags are good. But I hope it won't affect the nature, I hope they won't be cutting trees just for them to make some paper bags. Discipline is what we need in here. :)
@ronyang (52)
• Philippines
14 Sep 12
This is a good development in our country. This should be implemented in the entire country to lessen the garbage problems brought about by using plastic bags. The use of plastic bags and with no discipline in disposing our garbage resulted to tragedies such as flooding. This should be a good start for us to reuse and lessen the use of plastic bags and live in a garbage less environment.
@sreejithsreenivas (10200)
• India
14 Sep 12
Plastic carry bags are creating lot of environmental problem.It is not possible to ban all plastic materials.In all our day to day life many materials are produced from
plastics.It is better to ban plastic carry bags.
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
14 Sep 12
I am happy that the people are beginning to adapt using the brown paper bag and the eco bag.
You can see a lot of people meeting each other in the street with their groceries in eco bags of attractive colors.
I hope in a few more years we will totally eliminate the use of plastics.
@romzee (937)
• Philippines
14 Sep 12
Well for me, the problem is not the plastic bags but the proper disposal of plastic product and by using reusable bag this can help to alleviate the problem but a big NO to the use of paper bags that will create another problem. Hope the government and the people will have the WILL to implement "proper garbage segregation and disposal" because as far as I can see this is the ONLY SOLUTION.
