Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez (Negros Occidental, 3rd District) said Saturday that the passage of House Bill 9147 is “a critical, concrete step towards a sustainable economy. A big win for the environment and for future generations.”
House Bill (HB) 9147 or the proposed “Single-Use Plastic Products Regulation Act,” was unanimously approved on third and final reading during Wednesday’s session, July 28.
Benitez, who headed the Technical Working Group which drafted House Bill No. 9147, said it regulates the manufacture, sale and use of single-use plastic products.
Rep. Greg Gasataya (Bacolod), one of the principal authors of the bill, said it is the solution to the plastic pollution in the country.
House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco said “the time is ripe” for the country to enact a national legislation that will regulate the production, importation, sale, distribution, provision, use, recovery, collection, recycling and disposal of single-use plastic products.
“The Philippines is one of the world’s top five countries that contribute to plastic wastes causing marine pollution. Thus, it behooves our country to start prohibiting the use and spread of plastics in order to preserve the environment for future generations,” Velasco said.
HB 9147 provides for the gradual phase out of single-use plastics, which refer to “plastic products designed to be disposed, destroyed, or recycled, after only one use.”
Once the bill is enacted into law, non-compostable single-use plastic products like drinking straws, stirrers, sticks for candy, balloons and cotton buds, buntings, confetti, and packaging or bags of less than 10 microns in thickness will be phased out within one year.
Other single-use plastic products such as plates and saucers, cups, bowls and lids, cutlery like spoons, forks, knives and chopsticks, food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene, oxo-degradable plastics, film wrap, packaging or bags of less than 50 microns in thickness, and sachets and pouches that are multilayered with other materials will be phased out within a period of four years.
Thereafter, the production, importation, sale, distribution, provision or use of the said plastic products will be prohibited.*