Dagupan fights styrofoam problem

DAGUPAN CITY - Citing hazards posed by nonbiodegradable plastics and styrofoams, the city council on Monday approved on second reading a proposed ordinance seeking to regulate the sale and use of those packaging materials in Dagupan.

Councilor Nicanor Aquino, who proposed the ordinance, explained to his colleagues that the passage of the ordinance was crucial because disposal of the materials’ chemical compounds is often a dumpsite problem.

Aquino said plastic and styrofoam have increased the volume of waste of business establishments, institutions, factories, offices and city households.

"We need to regulate the sale and use of plastic and styrofoam materials [in order to] implement effectively the provisions of Republic Act 9003," he said.

R.A. 9003, the Ecological Waste Management Act 2002, encourages the regulation of certain products and materials that are considered nonenviron-mentally acceptable.

To support his argument, Aquino presented a video footage of the city’s dump showing mountains of plastics and styrofoams, which he described as turning into a garbage crisis in the city as alarming and appalling.

A city ordinance requires restaurants, hotels and other similar establishments to reduce the use of plastics and other styrofoam packaging materials by at least 50 percent within six months after the ordinance’s passage. Analiza Q. Leyba

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