Plastic Men

Just this January 2011, Muntinlupa City (where I work - Insular Life is in Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang) started to enforce City Ordinance #10-09 “BAWAL ang PLASTIK Sa Lungsod ng Muntinlupa” effective January 18, 2011 BYOB - BRING YOUR OWN BAG/BAYONG.

This means that the City “prohibits the use of plastic bags on dry goods, regulates their use for wet goods, and prohibits the use of styrofoam or styropor, usually used for foodstuff.”

Muntinlupa, for the record, is the first in Metro Manila to officially ban the use of plastic bags and Styro.

It has been three years or so when the canvass / non-woven / eco-bags started to gain popularity among Pinoys. In fact, I have lots. I collect them. I ordered the “I am not a plastic bag” kind and gave it as a Christmas present to officemates and friends.

In our Company alone, I think we came up with not just one or two, but five kinds, I think (and there will be one more this year). I have one from a building and construction expo, from Crocs, from Let’s Face It, from Dunkin Donuts, gifts from friends, from SM, from Shopwise and hey, I can’t remember them all now.

I bring a non-woven bag everyday and it’s where I put my baon and my usual pair of slippers. There was a time when the security guard at Save More (it was a Bring Your Own Bag day) wanted me to deposit it in the package counter.

“What will I use?” I asked him. He must have failed to connect my bag to their BYOB campaign.

Last year, Save More started to implement the BYOB every Wednesday. If you don’t have one, they’ll put your stuff in a paper bag, which is not ok if you’re buying heavy or wet goods. The SM Green Bag (in chartreuse, go Google it LOL) is foldable and has four designs depicting air, water, land and energy. You earn two points in your SM Advantage Card if you use them.

Shopwise (SW) has three versions of its reusable bag – canvass (Php99.50), sack bag (Php60.00), and non-woven black / blue (Php10.00). Every use of these bags allows you to earn double points on all purchases that fit into the bag, credited to your Wise Card or Elite Card. I bring the canvass and the sack every Saturday, along with other non-SW reusable bags, for our grocery-shopping.

In SW’s wet goods section, I like the self-service / help-yourself concept (you just get a plastic bag and get as much tilapia, bangus or galunggong as you like). But now, with the City Ordinance, there are no more plastic bags lying around. The staff will be putting the fish inside the bags. So you have to wait for your turn. Unfortunately, more often than not, there’s only one staff available. And because there’s no more Styro either, the packed meat (pork cubes, ground pork, chicken pieces) looks miserable and gooey.

Prime yourself when the cashier or the bagger starts to put the wet goods inside your reusable bag, without paper or newspaper lining. My helper has to wash the unlucky bag afterwards every time.

I also miss the plastic bags which serve as our trash bin liners. The paper bags, when they get wet or torn, aren’t reusable for that purpose. I also wish the sales clerks won’t be so stapler-trigger-happy. They staple the bag too much, I'm afraid.

Lest I be accused of not being supportive or not being eco-friendly (read: I'm a lover, not a fighter), let me just say that there are things (food and drinks, especially) that are not really made to be placed in paper.

The take-out siomai which used to be so neat and tidy inside the styro are now in a small waxed paper tray, with no lid, pushed inside a paper bag which you have to carry horizontally with your hands. Otherwise, they’ll spill inside the bag. And yes, there’s no alternative for plastic for the soy sauce and chili.

But as they say in Muntinlupa, “The dream of having a plastic-bag-free country may appear rather ambitious and difficult to realize at this time. But small steps, such as those being taken by Muntinlupa, can be the giant leap for realizing that dream (Public Information Office, City of Muntinlupa).”

Yes, perhaps we’ll get used to it. In due time. Tayo pa? If we can save the world a bag at a time, why not?