Manila: Malls in the country have agreed to observe a "no plastic bags" day once a week in a bid to lessen the environmental impact of plastic bag use.
Due to a request by environmentalists, malls and supermarkets in Manila and other urban centres will dedicate every Wednesday as Reusable Bag Day. The Environmental Network said the measure was necessary to force customers to use eco-friendly, reusable bags.
During the reusable bag day, retailers won't provide free plastic bags to clients. Instead, they will charge customers for a bag if they insist on having one.
Reusable bags are being sold in malls and supermarkets. Aside from this, local environmentalists are also promoting the return of the local "bayong" as an eco-friendly alternative to plastic grocery bags.
The bayong is durable and made from organic materials such as palm leaves. It had been used by Filipinos long before plastic grocery bags came into wide use.
Causes flooding
While plastic bags are widely used to carry goods such as groceries, they are also being blamed for clogging drains and causing floods.
Flooding is a major concern in the Philippines, especially in urban centres where garbage collection is a problem. Grocery bags, like most other plastic, take hundreds of years to decompose, and are difficult to recycle.
Plastic bags often end up in rivers and oceans and pose a threat to marine animals.
Do you think this initiative will make a difference? Would you like to see malls in the UAE ban plastic bags for a day? How else can retailers cut the use of plastic bags? Tell us what you think at readers@gulfnews.com
