MANILA – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said plastic straws and plastic coffee stirrers may soon be banned in the country.
DENR said on Tuesday, these two items were included in the list of non-environmentally approved products (NEAP) stated in the draft resolution by the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC).
The list of NEAP is part of the implementation of Republic Act (RA) 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, enacted into law in January 2001.
Under RA 9003, it states the commission will prepare a list of non-environmentally acceptable products that should be prohibited.
“The prohibition on these two single-use plastic items may be small steps in the NEAP listing, but it is a big leap when it comes to compliance with the provisions of RA 9003,” said DENR undersecretary and NSWMC alternate chair Benny Antiporda .
According to him, “This is long overdue and we need to catch up with the demand of solid waste management in our country.”
The undersecretary further stated the resolution was passed despite opposition from some members of the Commission like the Department of Trade and Industry, and the manufacturing and recycling industries.
“This is a significant milestone for NSWMC, and for the Filipino people. We have long been fighting for and we are committed in having a NEAP list to comply with the law to combat environmental damage,” Antiporda added./PN
