Plastic firms should buy back, recycle plastic products
A MANDAUE City Councilor wants the City to require local plastic manufacturers to buy and recycle used plastic products.
The measure will “drastically reduce the volume of used plastic in garbage dumps or drainage systems, without cutting much into the manufacturer’s profits,” read a resolution sponsored by Councilor Demetrio Cortes Jr.
The resolution requests Mayor Jonas Cortes, through the Solid Waste Management Office, to make it obligatory to all local plastic manufacturers to buy and recycle plastic products equivalent to the volume they sell.
Aim
Councilor Cortes said the measure “will make plastic manufacturers more responsible corporate citizens.” It will also provide income for the poor.
The resolution pointed out that plastic takes 1,000 years to decompose.
The City has been de- clogging drainage lines as part of efforts to address floods.
Last June, personnel from the road maintenance section of the City Engineering Office removed trash from 30 manholes on M.C. Briones St., which is one of the identified flood-prone areas in the city.
Plastic products composed 80 percent of the garbage they collected.
During a cleanup drive organized by the City, 100 sacks of plastic were also removed from the Butuanon River.
Early this year, city and barangay officials held a summit tackling the problem on flood.
In an earlier interview, Florentino Nimor, head of the City Planning and Development Office, said he has asked the barangays to conduct cleanup drives regularly.
Nimor said the City has identified 54 flood-prone areas, 32 of which affect roads.