Making Baguio City ‘plastic-free’/ Eco-walk

CITY HALL BEAT

Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY - The Plastic Carry/Shopping Bags and Styrofoam-Free Baguio Task Force or Task Force Anti-Plastic recently formed by Mayor Mauricio Domogan began conducting spot inspections of business establishments to check on the level of compliance of these traders to the Plastic and Styrofoam-Free Baguio City Ordinance of the city.

Solid Waste Management Division Head Dominador Urbanozo of the General Services Office which is co-spearheading the task force said the pilot inspection conducted last Feb. 26 targeted the stalls participating at the Baguio Blooms trade exhibition which had been drawing throngs of shoppers since it opened last Feb. 1 at the Burnham Park.

Urbanozo said they found out that around half of the stallholders had been providing customers with plastic or sando bags for their wares due to lack of awareness and misinformation. 

Some of the concessionaires turned out to be not residents of the city and were totally unfamiliar with Ordinance No. 35-17, Urbanozo explained.

Other traders based in the city claimed they were told that using plastic bags with the biodegradable marks is allowed.

The findings prompted the task force members to conduct a briefing on the provisions of the ordinance and advised them to comply with a warning that further violation will lead to sanctions the next time.

Urbanozo said they will also recommend to the city to require organizers of such activities to first undertake a briefing of the city’s ordinances among their concessionaires especially those who come from other areas.

                Ordinance No. 35-17 prohibits business establishments from providing any customer any plastic bag (including the oxo-biodegradable plastic bags) or polystyrene foam container for goods or items purchased or serving food or drink, take out or dine in to customers in polystyrene containers or in plastic bags and will cover all business activities and establishments in the city including city government schools and offices.

It was clarified that only the sale, distribution and use of plastic carry or shopping bags and Styrofoam is prohibited and as such, stores cannot provide clients with plastic bags.

However, the use of plastic bags other than as carry or shopping bags is allowed.

He said customers can provide their own carry or shopping bags as long as these are not made of plastic and that styrofoam cannot be used to as containers for cooked or raw food.  Plastic containers can be used as alternative for these types of food but must be carried in bags that are not made of plastic.

The only exception for the prohibition is the use of plastic bags for primary packaging of wet goods and items.

The penalties are reprimand or immediate closure for establishments without business permit for first offense; P1,000 fine for second offense; P3,000 fine and eight hours community service for third offense and P5,000 fine and suspension of business permit for six months for fourth offense.

                ***

Some 50 junior high school students of the St. Louis University Laboratory High School underwent the Eco-Walk culture-based children’s environmental awareness program last Feb. 16 at the Busol watershed.

The students who were accompanied by their teachers and the Baguio City Guide team headed by Vincent Tabor, the students ring-weeded a patch of pine trees and trekked a portion of the forest to commune with nature.

Before the hike, they underwent a lecture on the importance of the forest, watersheds and the eco-system.

“I wish we had more time to explore the forest.  It was exciting and exhilarating to be scaling the hills and see nothing but the trees,” one student gushed. 

During the sharing, the students expressed how the experience made them realize the value of planting and caring for the trees and the environment.

Last year, several classes of the Small World Christian School Foundation set the tone for the Eco-Walk program and established their own “muyong” or planting site after the traditional forest system of the Ifugaos. 

               Regular Eco-Walk patrons like the Irisan National High School, Baguio Seventh Day Adventist School and other schools are expected to mount their own walks when the planting season starts in the coming months.

Conceptualized by members of the local media led by city public information officer Ramon Dacawi in 1991, Eco-Walk was pilot-tested in 1992 and since then became the top environmental awareness program of the Baguio Regreening Movement and the city government under Mayor Mauricio Domogan.

The program won for the city the 1996 “Galing Pook” Award bestowed by the Asian Institute of Management and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.   

Dacawi said the children’s environmental immersion into the vital role of forests in sustaining life was made a model throughout the world.  Its effectiveness was cited by the United Nations Environmental Programme which bestowed on the children’s project its 2002 Global 500 Award.

Over the years, the program contributed to the rearing and upkeep of trees and deterring encroachers to the forest.

The program also inspired adults over the years as various groups, associations and private offices had joined the program and conducted regular walks.

               Schools and groups interested to undergo the program may contact the Public Information Office City Mayor’s Office 442-2502.