June 30, 2014

No More Plastics in Bulacan…Is This Happening?

In my post on banning the use of plastics in entire Bulacan, I was happy because this will make a great impact in our environment. Let us see what happened more than a year after I posted about this or should I say implementation of the said provincial ordinance.

The soon I read and saw the notices around our area, I asked our suking vegetable stall in Sta. Maria if they are aware with the new ordinance and the vendor just answered: “Oo, pero madami pa kaming plastic.” Given that they are just consuming their stocks since the rules were just came out for implementation. However, until now, they are still using plastics as packaging and this is in every stall in the market. Are their stocks really that much to use plastic until now?


Supermarkets and malls are still using plastics. Though there are claims that theirs are biodegradable, still these are plastics and will take too much time to decompose.

Some supermarkets implement a “no-plastic use” for a particular day of the week. But come to think about this: The “no-plastic use” policy is implemented mid-week, Wednesday in particular, wherein only few goes to the mall and do shopping. Why not implement this over the weekends or better the entire week just like other provinces do?

There are establishments that really follow the rules like fast food chains. Jollibee, for example, uses paper bags for the take-out orders as well as cups for the drinks. They are also implementing a “no-straw” Fridays. Why not implement this everyday?

I am a 100% law abiding citizen as much as possible, I tried to use reusable bags when going to market where I put my purchases directly instead of placing it in plastics bags before handed to me. And in supermarkets, I asked the bagger to place it in a carton, when possible, or bring my own eco-bag instead of using plastic bags.

I can say that the ordinance has a very good objective but totally lacks awareness and implementation. Where is the policy that they will suspend the business permits of those who violates the rules?

Is Bulacan just following the band-wagon of other provinces that implements the same rules just to say the province really care for the environment?

By the way, after more the a year, this signage is still in this same place. You can read clearly what it is all about. But look at the pile of garbage in PLASTICS beneath it, what can you say about it?