[ manilastandardtoday.com ] April 2-3, 2011
THE Laguna Lake Development Authority has passed a resolution urging all lakeshore towns to ban the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags.
General manager Rodrigo Cabrera said the agency’s board, led by Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, approved the resolution on March 24.
The board wanted to prevent another massive flooding like that brought by tropical storm Ondoy that swamped Muntinlupa in September 2009 because of the waterways clogged by non-decomposing plastic bags, Cabrera said.
The resolution requires all local government units to implement an ordinance that bans the use of “thin film, single-use, carry-out, non-biodegradable plastic bags” to minimize pollution and siltation at the 94,900-hectare lake, the country’s biggest.
Cabrera said the Philippine Plastic Industry Association did not object to the resolution.
As a result of the 2009 flooding, Muntinlupa has passed an ordinance banning non-biodegradable plastic bags. Los Baños, Paete and Kalayaan in Laguna, Lucban in Quezon and Carmona in Cavite have followed suit.
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