State-run Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) yesterday reiterated its directive to ban all single-use plastics in all ports under its jurisdiction as it moves forward to sustainable port operations.
Francisquiel Mancile, PPA officer-in-charge, stressed that all port managers across its 25 Port Management Offices must strictly impose the directive embedded under PPA Memorandum Circular No. 11-2021.
“PPA already has an existing ban on single-use plastics. Since last year, we are not only banning the use and entry of such plastics in the ports but also in all facilities and offices under the agency,” Mancile said.
The memorandum follows the National Solid Waste Management Commission Resolution No. 1363 dated February12, 2020, directing a ban on unnecessary use of single-use plastic products in government agencies and is seen as a major leap to reduce the use of single-plastic items from polluting waterways, killing marine life and further increasing the country’s solid waste.
The ban includes plastic cups thinner than 0.2 millimeters as well as plastic drinking straws, spoons, forks, knives and coffee stirrers, and plastic labo and thinned-filmed sando bags thinner/lighter than 15 microns. – Myla Iglesias
