A study on the preliminary impacts of City Ordinance 2009-370 banning/regulating the use

of plastic bags in Antipolo City

By
Grace P Sapuay
President
Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines
Abstract

Among the prevalent local and national issues on solid waste management is the burgeoning
problem of plastic litter all over the country. Local governments as well as national legislative bodies are
seeking ways to minimize if not to eliminate plastics in solid waste. Recently, Antipolo City implemented
a local ordinance regulating/banning the use of plastic bags in the commercial sector. In order to find out
the effectiveness of such ordinance in bringing about desired behavioural change a survey was undertaken
in the main wet and dry public market of Antipolo City. The survey hoped to determine the initial effects
of the ban on the solid waste situation in the city and on the attitudes of the citizens in the community
towards the ban and towards the environment. The data gathered survey was analyzed using the Predictive
Analysis Software (PASW) Statistics (SPSS version 18). The results indicated positive impact of the ban
on the use of plastic bags on solid waste situation of the city as well as on the attitude and behaviour of the
constituency as proven by higher percentage of those favouring the ordinance and the bringing of reusable
bags when shopping. This was due to strict implementation of the ban amidst the difficulty of gaining its
acceptance to those primarily affected. This goes to show that strict implementation can serve as a key to
minimization of plastics and perhaps consequently effective management of solid waste.

Keywords: plastic bags, solid waste

Introduction
Among the prevalent local and national
issues on solid waste management is the
burgeoning problem of plastic litter all over the
country. Local governments as well as national
legislative bodies are seeking ways to minimize if
not to eliminate plastics in solid waste. Recently,
Antipolo City implemented a local ordinance
regulating/banning the use of plastic bags in the
commercial sector. In order to find out the
effectiveness of such ordinance in bringing about
desired behavioural change a survey was
undertaken in the main wet and dry public market
of Antipolo City. The survey hoped to determine
the initial effects of the ban on the solid waste
situation in the city and on the attitudes of the
citizens in the community towards the ban and
towards the environment. The data gathered
survey was analyzed using the Predictive
Analysis Software (PASW) Statistics (SPSS
version 18). The results indicated positive impact
of the ban on the use of plastic bags on solid waste
situation of the city as well as on the attitude and
behaviour of the constituency as proven by higher
percentage of those favouring the ordinance and
the bringing of reusable bags when shopping.
This was due to strict implementation of the ban
amidst the difficulty of gaining its acceptance to
those primarily affected. This goes to show that
strict implementation can serve as a key to
minimization of plastics and perhaps
consequently effective management of solid
waste. This study was conducted in 2011 but has
never been published.
1.1 Objectives/Aims of The Study
The proposed study has the following
objectives:
i) To determine the initial impacts of the plastic
bags ban in terms of improvement of the solid
waste situation in Antipolo City and the
reactions of people on the implementation of
the ban.
ii) To determine the effects of the ban in terms of
changes in the behaviour of the people
 towards management of solid waste and
changes in the behaviour of the citizens
towards environmental awareness.
1.2 Significance of The Study
While a few Local Government Units
(LGUs) have made a move to impose a ban on the
use of plastic carryout bags, there is still an on-
going deliberation in the Congress as well as in
the Senate regarding the banning of plastic bags.
Currently, the process is moving towards
regulation of plastic bags (production and use)
instead of ban on their use. The results of this
study will help determine whether a ban is
effective in the improvement of solid waste
situation in the country as might be exemplified
by Antipolo City.
1.3 Scope and Limitations
This research aims to study only the
initial impacts of the implementation of the
plastic bags ban. As such, it will be limited only
to the preliminary determination of its effects for
three months. It will not be concerned with waste
segregation policies but will be limited only to the
initial effects of the ban on the solid waste
situation in the city and on the attitudes of the
citizens in the community towards the ban and
towards the environment.
Since the time to study the initial impact
period is very short (one month only); hence, the
survey area was limited to the main wet and dry
public market of Antipolo, which is located in the
Poblacion.
2. Methodology
2.1. Significance of the Survey
Surveys are significant in that they can be
used to determine the beliefs, attitude and
behaviours towards prevailing trends, laws, and
other aspects in the community.
The results of the survey present the
preliminary evaluation of a policy (in this case the
ban on plastic bags) which will give a glimpse at
how well the implementation is being carried out
at the beginning of implementation.
2.2 Survey Area
Due to time and budgetary constraints,
the survey was conducted in one place, which is
the major wet and dry public market along the
main thoroughfare of Antipolo City. Since this is
the main public market, this a one of places where
most people come to do their shopping for their
daily needs and is where the ordinance is mostly
implemented, also since the office of the public
market administrator holds office in the vicinity.
2.3 Research Design
2.3.1 Data Collection Methodology
Gathering of primary data was done
through a survey and key informant interviews
with an actual ocular observation of the
surroundings. Secondary data, such as monitoring
and accomplishment reports, were gathered from
the Environmental Services Office of Antipolo
City. Photo-documentation was conducted as part
of the data or evidence of outcome of the
implementation of the legislation. Face-to-face
and self-administered interviews were done with
the aid of semi-structured questionnaires.
2.3.2 Survey Description
An ocular inspection of the streets of the
city as well as its waterways was conducted to
present a situational analysis and determine the
prevailing solid waste situation in the city. This
was followed by interviews at the chosen site.
Three groups or sectors were surveyed
for this study. The first group was the
implementers, the second group consisted of the
vendors or shopkeepers, and the third group
consisted of the consumers.
Survey was done through either a face-
to-face interview as well as by distributing
questionnaires to the selected respondents. A
focused interview was done for the 1st group of
respondents. The questionnaires for the shop-
owners were distributed among the market
vendors and retrieved after a few hours. The
accomplishment rate of the questionnaires was
sixty per cent (60%). Some of the vendors were
busy with sales work and did not want to answer
the questionnaires while some of them simply did
not want to answer the questionnaires and were
not returned.
2.3.2 Statistical Design
A simple random sampling was
conducted for interviewing the shoppers. Sixty
(60) samples were taken and interviewed using
face-to-face survey technique. This was done by evening. This place was chosen to be the study
randomly selecting shoppers. Samples were site for the survey since many people from
selected at random at certain times of the day. For various places in Antipolo come here to buy all
example, twenty (20) samples were interviewed sorts of goods and merchandise and that this is the
in the morning until 12:00 noon, twenty (20) place most likely to be impacted by the
samples were interviewed in the afternoon, and implementation of the ordinance.
another twenty (20) samples were interviewed
early evening. This was done to determine
whether there is a difference among the shoppers
at certain times of the day.
For the shop-owners, convenience
sampling was done since they were busy with
their businesses, such that only those willing to
answer the survey forms were interviewed while
the others were given the forms and retrieved
after a few hours. Thirty (30) samples were
gathered for this study.
Key informants were also interviewed for
this study in order to determine the extent of
implementation and how such implementation is
conducted within the entire LGU. For this
purpose, the City Administrator, the Public
Market Administrator, as well as the head of the Figure 1 Areal Map of Antipolo Public Market
Ecological Waste Management Office were (Google Earth)
interviewed. This was conducted by visiting their
respective offices. Secondary data were also
requested from their offices regarding solid waste
as well as the ordinance.

3. Results and Discussions

3.1 Description of the Study Area
The survey was conducted within the
confines of Antipolo City’s main public market,
which is located two blocks away from the city
hall. The public market is a two-story
establishment which houses dry goods
merchandise (clothing, home decors, cooking
paraphernalia, trinkets, etc.) on its second level.
The meat and fish section, fresh fruits and Figure . Location of Antipolo public market.
vegetables and all other ingredients for cooking
as well as cooked foods are located on the first 3.2 . Results of the survey
floor of the public market. The survey yielded two (2) types of data,
Located in Bgy. San Roque, it occupies numerical and categorical (nominal). For such
the entire block in the heart of Antipolo along ML types of data, a Chi-square (X2) statistic was used
Quezon Street on the west, J. Sumulong Street on here to compare the variables and to find out
the north, F. Manalo St. on the east, and J. Simeon whether there exists any relationship or
Street on the south (see areal views on the next correlation between these variables. The chi-
page). The market is filled with people of all square is used to investigate whether
walks of life during the day. It is busiest during distributionsof categorical variables differ from
the early morning until 12’o’clock noon and one another. After Chi-square, a post test
during late afternoon until eight o’clock in the statistical method, Cramer’s V was calculated to
determine the strengths of association between
the variables tested. Cramer’s V coefficient is
useful for comparing multiple X2-test statistics
and is generalizable across contingency tables of
varying sizes and is mainly used to calculate
associations using nominal data. To describe the
strength of association, Cramer’s V is described
as having values from 0 to 1 where >0.5 signifies
high association while 0 to 0.1 has little or no
association. Calculations for these values were
done through PASW. The software PASW
Statistics (SPSS version 18) (Predictive Analysis
Software) is a program that can be used to analyse
data from surveys, tests, observations, and other
data gathered. The software can perform a variety
of data analyses and presentation functions.
Features of the software include descriptive
statistics such as frequencies, percentage
distribution, t-Test, X2-test among others. This
software can perform a variety of statistical
computations, thus saving time for the researcher
in analysing the data gathered.
3.2.1. Profile of Participants
The ages of the participants were
grouped into two, since the data was not very
significant for those younger than twenty (20)
years old.
Thirty (30) shop-owners were
interviewed for this study (Table 1), all owning a
stall or stalls inside the public market of Antipolo
City. Of the shop-owners who answered the
survey forms, 10% were between the ages of less
than twenty (20) years old to twenty-nine (29)
years old. Most of the participants interviewed
were within the age range of 30-39 years old
(46.7%) while the rest were over 40 years old
(about 43.3%).
Most of the thirty (30) participants
interviewed were females, about 76.7%; while a
smaller percentage, about 23.3%, were males.
More than half of the shop-owners who
answered the survey questionnaires finished
college degree (about 60%), while 40% finished
high school/vocational school.
When asked about their weekly income,
most of the shop-owners (60%), stated they earn
between P1,000-P5,999 pesos, while some of
them (20%) earn between P6,000-P9,999.00 and
only a few (6.7%) earn a weekly income of more
than 10,000 pesos. About 13.3% did not state
their income in the survey questionnaires.
The profile of the shoppers interviewed
for this study was that 21.7% of the shoppers
interviewed were aged less than or equal to 29
years old, while 31.7% were between 30-39 years
old. The majority of shoppers surveyed were 40
years old and over, comprising 46.7% of the
sample.
Although the participants were chosen at
random, more female shoppers were interviewed
(71.7%), while the male shoppers comprise only
28.3% of the sample. It cannot be concluded here
that more females do the shopping than males,
however, it can be said that at the time of
sampling, more females arrived than males and
thus, they were the ones mostly interviewed for
this purpose.
When asked about their educational
attainment, 56.6% of the sample said they
finished high school and/or vocational courses
while about 30% finished a college degree and
only 13.3% of the respondents finished
elementary school.
Forty per cent (40%) of the sample
belong to families earning an income of more
than Php10,000; 33.3% have a monthly family
income of PhP 5,000-PhP 9,999.00. About 26.7%
said they earn a monthly income of less than Php
4,999.00.
The cases belong to a diverse group of
occupation wherein 40% are mostly
homemakers; 16.7% for both private employees
and self-employed/business owners; 5% are
students, 1.7% works in a government institution;
6.7% are labourers, while 11.7% are either retired
or work someplace else. Around 1.7% of the
sample did not specify their employment status.
3.2.2. Knowledge and Awareness
The respondents were primarily asked
whether they were aware of the ordinance
banning/regulating the use of plastic carryout
bags, whether they fully understood the reason
for such and if they were satisfied with the
implementation of such a policy.
Although all (100%) respondents
interviewed were aware of the ordinance, only 58
or 96.7% of the shoppers and 93.3% of the shop-
owners said that they understood the reason for
regulating/banning the use of plastic carryout
bags and some 3.3% among both the shoppers
and the shop-owners said that they did not
understand the reason for such a regulation. Also,
86.7% of the shoppers and 89.7% of the shop-
owners were satisfied with the ordinance, while
13.3% were not satisfied with the said ordinance.
When asked whether they understood the
advantages of not using plastic bags, a majority
(96.7%) of both the shoppers and the shop-
owners replied positively, while 3.3% were
negative about it.
Public information campaign regarding
the plastic bags ordinance has been going on in
the city, as shown by posters hanging in public
places This explains the high level of awareness
of the people regarding the policy. Also,
according to shop-owners, letters notifying the
business owners regarding the ordinance have
been distributed all over the city.
3.2.3. Attitudes/Behaviour towards the Ban
In trying to determine the people’s
attitudes or behavioural responses towards the
ban, the shoppers were asked whether they bring
their own reusable bag nowadays, their opinions
on buying reusable bag for shopping, choices of
carryout bags, their opinions on what type of bag
should be used for shopping in the marketplace,
as well as whether they wish to change the
ordinance and add a P5.00 levy for using plastic
bags or whether they prefer the current ordinance
which bans the use of plastic bags for all dry
goods purchases and limits such use for wet
goods purchases. The responses are shown on the
following figures below:
Results of the survey indicated that
96.7% of the respondents bring their own
reusable bag nowadays when shopping, while
only a few (3.3%) never bring their own reusable
bags. When asked “why”, the only reason they
gave was that they always forget to bring reusable
bags with them when they go shopping.
It was also found that a majority of the
respondents (98.3%) were willing to buy reusable
bags and chose the current ordinance over an
amended ordinance which would allow the use of
plastic bags but with a levy of five pesos (Php5.00
or $0.10) for every plastic bag that will be
used.When ask for the choice of carryout
container they prefer to use, most of the
respondents said that they prefer using reusable
bag as carryout container because for them,
reusable bags are sturdy, convenient and
comfortable to use, can be washed and used again
many times over, and can contain more goods
compared to other carryout bags/containers,
which are disposable. They also said that they
preferred using reusable bags now than plastic
bags in order to help in the protection of the
environment as well as help in the prevention of
clogging the waterways and lessen the littering of
waste on the streets.
The responses above only showed that a
majority of the shoppers interviewed were willing
to compromise against using the free plastic
carryout bags for the sake of helping the
campaign for cleanliness and environmental
protection. This awareness and willingness to
cooperate with this new environmental policy is a
positive indication that most people nowadays are
environmentally aware and socially conscious of
what is happening to the environment and can
understand that such policies are part of the
measures aimed at protecting the environment.
The shoppers were also asked for their
opinions regarding buying reusable bags for their
groceries. Most of them (65%) said that buying
reusable bags is all right with them because they
can contribute to environmental protection.
About 25% said that it was fine with them as long
as they could carry the things they bought, while
a few of them (10%) said they were annoyed
because of the extra expenses.
The shop-owners were also asked about
their opinions regarding the ordinance.
Approximately 43.4% said that plastic bags
should be banned in order to reduce waste and
because paper bags are better since they are
biodegradable. On the other hand, 43.4% said
they should not be banned because the use of
plastic bags could help save the trees and that
plastic bags are better for packaging wet
merchandise. Most of those who did not favour
the ban were from the wet goods section of the
market. They also complained that they were the
ones who receive the ire of customers who were
not used to bringing reusable bags. Around 13.3%
of those interviewed did not answer the question.
When asked for their opinions on why
plastic bags should or should not be banned,
36.7% said that plastic bags should not be
banned because they are good for wet
merchandise such as fish or meat; 6.7% said that
Plastic bags should not be banned in order to
save the trees; 36.7% said that plastic bags
should be banned and paper bags used instead
because they are biodegradable and another
6.7% said that plastic bags should be banned to
reduce waste; 13.3% did not give any answers.
3.2.4. Practices
In order to determine the shoppers’ and
shop-owners’ practices in the use of plastic bags
in the light of the ordinance, the following
responses were gathered from the respondents:
56.7% of shop-owners said they still use plastic
bags, while 11% said they do not be use plastic
bags, and 6.7% did not provide any answer. 25%
of the shoppers said they still use plastic bags
while 40% said they no longer use plastic bags,
35% said sometimes they use plastic bags. It
should be noted that the ordinance regulates the
use of plastic bags in the wet goods section and
not banned so that those who responded yes to the
question were those who were selling wet goods
such as fish, chicken, or meat. However, those
selling wet goods use only a certain type of plastic
bag, called “labo” (means cloudy), a thin, single
use cellophane, which is quite disposable. Double
bagging is no longer allowed though, and even if
their consumers grumble and demand for plastic
bags, they were afraid to pay the penalty (which
is PhP500.00 (over $10.00) for the first offense,
PhP800.00 (over $15.00) for the second time and
revoking of license to sell on the third time of
violation).
It was also found that other sellers in the
dry goods area use plastic bags as courtesy to the
customers who do not have shopping bags with
them for the convenience of carrying the goods
bought. When asked why they still use such
despite the ban, the reason given was that it is
only “banned when caught” and that the customer
needs to have the goods packaged in a sturdy
carryout container. It was also found that more
shoppers no longer use plastic bags as carryout
container when shopping because they want to
cooperate with the government policy and that
they did not want to get caught and pay the
penalty. The same reasons were given by the
vendors who are no longer using plastic carryout
bags.
When the vendors/shop-owners were
asked whether their clients/shoppers were
reduced after the implementation of the
ordinance, some of them said yes (20%), others
said no (80%).
According to the vendors interviewed,
this caused so much frustration to them plus
additional activity of making paper bags (out of
used newspapers). They further explained that
before the implementation of the ordinance, they
used to just buy plastic carryout bags. But after
the ban was implemented, what they buy
nowadays are scotch tapes or tubes of paste to
make the paper bags because they do not want to
buy the brown paper bags since those are more
expensive and there is not enough supply
available.
With regards to cleanliness, more shop-
owners think that solid waste in the city were
reduced after the implementation of the ordinance
(70%), as opposed to just 40% of shoppers who
think that garbage has been reduced. Most of the
respondents (48.3%) believed that garbage was
somewhat or just a bit reduced. Inspection of the
vicinity of the public market showed that the
streets have indeed been maintained and free
from littering, which indicates an intensive
campaign against the use of plastic bags as well
as tougher implementation, imposing penalties to
those who violate the ordinance.
3.2.5. Waste Segregation Practices
Waste segregation practices, although
these has little to do with the banning of plastic
bags, is also a way of finding out the solid waste
practices of people to see how well they are aware
of other environmental policies and can therefore
determine levels of environmental awareness
among the citizenry. RA 9003 mandates that
waste must be segregated at source. People who
practice waste segregation at home are more
environmentally aware or more aware of existing
environmental policies than those who do not and
are willing to cooperate in urban waste
management interventions of the government,
such as the banning of plastic bags.
With the current implementation of the
policy banning the use of plastic bags, it is
possible that such a policy has awakened some
level of awareness among the people in terms of
other environmental policies. This can be seen by
the way they manage their solid waste. It was
found that 70% of respondents are segregating
their garbage.
Various reasons were given, such as,
segregation has become a habit; to separate
biodegradable (which emit bad odour) from non-
biodegradable; to keep from littering waste into
the waterways; to help in environmental
protection; and to obey the law to avoid penalties.
They also reported that segregated waste were
placed in various types of containers such as
plastic bags, jute sacks, broken pails, garbage
drums or barrels, etc.
3.2.6. Statistical Analysis
The results of the survey on the shoppers
were subjected to Chi-square analysis, since this
group had a bigger sample size than the shop-
owners. For the survey on shop-owners, only the
frequencies and percentage were considered since
the sample size was too small for statistical
treatment using a chi-square analysis. To further
test the Chi-square values, Cramer’s V was also
used for nominal values to determine the
generalizability of the samples. The
demographical data were compared with the data
on the choice of carryout containers and with
regards to the satisfaction with ordinance.
It was found that 92.3% of the
respondents within the age range 29 years and
below favoured using reusable bag while only
7.7% favoured the use of disposable containers.
About 78.9% of those respondents aged 30-39
years old favoured the use of reusable containers,
and only 21.1% among the respondents aged 30-
39 years old favoured using disposable containers
for shopping. Among those aged 40 years old and
over, 85.7% favoured the use of reusable
containers for shopping, while only 14.3%
favoured the use of disposable carryout
containers. It was found there is a high percentage
of those who favoured using reusable carryout
containers/bags across age groups, signifying that
age had nothing to do with choosing the type of
container. To further test this, Cramer’s V, which
is used to test for the generalizability of the
sample within a population, was run in order to
check whether there was any relationship. As it
turned out, a Cramer’s V equal to 0.136 indicates
a weak relationship between the variables within
the samples. Similarly, a value of p = 0.576
means that there was no sufficient data/evidence
to generalize this result within the population.
To check whether age is a determining
factor for satisfaction with the ban on plastic
bags, a cross tabulation was done for age against
the responses on the satisfaction with the
ordinances. It was found that thosed aged less
than or equal to 29 years old have high
satisfaction rating (84.6%) compared to 15.4% of
unsatisfied people of the same age. A higher
satisfaction rating was found for people aged 30-
39 years old compared to only 5.3% unsatisfied.
Those aged 40 years old and above also showed
an 82.1% satisfaction with the ordinance
compared to 17.9% unsatisfied.
From the results, it can be said that there
was a very high percentage of those who were
satisfied with the ordinance banning the use of
plastic bags compared to those who were not
satisfied. Checking for correlation using age
groups to determine the variability of yes answers
among the age groups, the results generated for
the age vs. satisfaction with ordinance indicated
that there was no correlation between these two
variables within the sample and that it could not
be generalized for the entire population.
Similarly, in trying to establish the
relationship between the educational attainment
and choice of carryout containers, it was found
that there was a high percentage of respondents
who would rather use reusable containers than
disposable ones, across all categories of
educational attainment.
Based on the results above, a value of p
= 0.070 indicated that there was a an very low
correlation between the variables within the
sample but because of its closeness to p<0.05
there might be some correlation if there were
enough samples for the generated data although
within the study, there was not enough evidence
to say that it could be generalized within the
entire population as shown by the Cramer’s V
value.
Thus, it can be said from the data
gathered that education has nothing to do with the
satisfaction/dissatisfaction of the respondents
regarding the policy implemented. At any
educational category, they can be satisfied when
they perceive that the policy is doing good for the
environment as well as to the behaviour of the The data from the survey was able to
people. Naturally, as can be seen from Table 12, prove the hypothesis of the study, which found a
not everyone will be pleased with such a policy positive impact of the ban on the solid waste
and will always resist change, such that some of situation of the city as well as the attitude and
the shoppers interviewed said that they were not behaviour of the constituency as proven by the
satisfied with the ordinance banning the use of high percentage of those who favour the
plastic disposable bags, because for them, plastic ordinance and the bringing of their own reusable
bags offer the most convenient way to carry the bags when shopping.
goods they purchased. In this study, it was found that,
It was also found that income has nothing nowadays, vendors/shop-owners in the dry goods
to do with the choice of carry out container. section no longer use plastic bags (except for a
Across the income groups, more respondents few which try to sneak-in plastic bags at the
preferred the reusable type of carryout container behest of some consumers, just to please them),
than the disposable ones. Further relating these and use paper packaging instead. These paper
variables, it can be said that there is no significant packaging are in the form of recycled materials
relationship between the income and the choice such as old newspapers, magazines and phone
of carryout bags. directories and made into “paper bags” because
Table 2 below also shows that the the shop-owners/vendors find the brown paper
satisfaction of the respondents is not related to bags more expensive. This clearly shows how
their income since across all income groups, a people can be creative in order to comply with the
high percentage of the sample is satisfied with the policy. Although there is no baseline data to
ordinance than being dissatisfied further proving determine the volume of reduction in plastic bags
that basic understanding of such an ordinance and waste, the reduction of plastic bags littering the
being satisfied at its implementation has nothing streets has definitely been achieved. Also, since
to do with their social or financial status in life. the people have become aware that the plastic
bags ordinance was implemented to curb the
Table 1. Monthly family income vs. satisfaction waste littering, they have also become aware of
with the ordinance. the ill-effects of improperly disposed plastic bags
on the environment as a whole and perceive that
Satisfaction with the
Monthly Ordinance the ordinance is good at preventing the littering of
Total
Family Income plastic waste. This reveals the changing attitudes
Yes No
of the people towards their environment in that
<PhP 4,999 81.3% 18.8% 100.0% their awareness has been heightened regarding
the use of materials that end up as waste that
PhP 5,000- 90.0% 10.0% 100.0%
9,999
affect the waterways.
It should be remembered that the primary
>=PhP 10,000 87.5% 12.5% 100.0% reason for the move to ban plastic bags is that
Approx. Sig 0.736 oftentimes they end up on the streets which are
p<.05 carried into drainage canals when it rains.
However, in Antipolo, it was found out that only
Cramer’s V 0.101
the use of plastic “sando” bags was banned but
N cases = 60 not the single use thin film plastic they called
"labo", which are easily discarded, unlike the
plastic carry-on bags that are oftentimes reused.
4. CONCLUSIONS This would lead to the question of where these
The study was able to provide a bird’s plastic bags go afterwards.
eye view of the preliminary effects of the Although the littering of plastic bags
ordinance as well as gain some knowledge on seemed to have decreased, some shop-
how those who were interviewed felt about it. owners/vendors have reported that it was only
replaced by paper waste since paper bags are
being used instead of plastic bags. The banning of
plastic bags seemed to be a solution to this waste
littering problem since the government seems to
have been ineffective in implementing the
provisions of RA 9003, or management of solid
waste. In order to prevent the littering of plastic
bags waste, these should, therefore be taken out
of the market. Although this ordinance offers a
practical solution to the plastic bags waste
problem, this would perhaps be effective only in
the short term. What would be more effective is
the implementation of the solid waste
management policy and discipline of the
populace in order to create a long term solution to
the problem, which does not only constitute
plastic bags but other waste as well. If
behavioural changes will occur, such that people
will learn to manage their solid waste, and that
infrastructure would be available, we will be
closer to solving the garbage woes.
As seen from the study, the strict
implementation of the ordinance to ban/regulate
plastic bags use was able to reduce the plastic
bags waste. However, proper waste management
is still the best way to contain all waste so they do
not end up where they are not supposed to be.
According to the result of this study, any law that
is strictly implemented is effective. Although
many consumers still long for that lightweight
convenient carry-on plastic bag, they now realize
that the rampant use of such has been among the
culprits in the clogging of waterways and causing
so much litter on the streets. Although they still
grumble as to the use of recycled newspapers for
packaging and buying/bringing their own
reusable carry-on bags/containers, the seeds of
awareness have already been planted and are
starting to grow.
In order to properly resolve the problem
on plastic bags waste, there has to be a thorough
deliberation as to which plastic bags must be
banned since reusable plastic bags can provide a
solution too.
While it is true that plastic bags waste can
clog waterways because they are non-
biodegradable, other solid waste can do the same.
And using paper put a huge demand on our trees
and water supply. It is clearly not the best
solution. To put it simply, with the strict
implementation of the ordinance, the people are
catching on. Perhaps, if RA 9003 is strictly
implemented and violators are penalized, then the
problems on solid waste will finally be contained.
The study was under severe limitations
due to time and budgetary constraints such that it
was not possible to include the entire area of
Antipolo City. For this reason, only a small
sample was included in the survey, which
covered only those in the market such that the
study cannot be conclusive of the situation of the
entire city especially those in the barangays that
are far from the city center.
5. RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to be able to have a clear picture
of the real impacts of the ordinance and the
effects this has on the solid waste situation in the
city, it is recommended that this study be
continued one year later. Also, at this stage, the
volume of solid waste, especially of plastic waste
must be properly recorded to form as baseline
data for reference. A plastic waste recovery centre
must be set up at strategic areas of the city and
that the garbage collectors must be instructed to
separate plastic bags waste upon collection.
Although “economic impacts” is not part
of this study, the ordinance clearly has a big
impact on the polyethylene industry, from the
manufacturer to the retailers. The ordinance did
not seem to have considered the economic
impacts it would have on other vendors since the
suppliers of plastic bags have been hard hit by this
ordinance. For example, the supplier of plastic
bags in the market complained of a 50% reduction
in sales and recently penalized (Php500 pesos) for
using a plastic “sando” bag to package the thin
plastic bags bought by a wet goods vendor who
demanded plastic packaging. A study on the
economic impacts of the ban should be conducted
in the future.
This study also needs a better statistical
design so that responses to the survey will not be
biased in order to reflect the real situation.
Although larger sample can be better, it may be
better if the profile of the community can be
adequately represented. This survey can then be
used as forerunner of succeeding surveys which
can be done in the future.
It can be said that although the LGU’s
leadership has been trying hard to make the
campaign against the widespread use of plastic
bags, there are some products that require plastic
bags for packaging to protect the products. An
Executive Order (E.O.0018 series 2011) was
therefore released by the Office of the Mayor to
provide some exceptions to the ban.
Unfortunately, this has not been communicated
properly to the shop-owners/vendors. As a result,
they have not realized that they can apply for such
an exemption if their reasons are justified.
In order to effectively implement the
policy, a massive and continuous Information and
Education Campaign (IEC) is necessary for the
people to better understand the importance of the
ordinance. The policy, if carried out effectively,
would have a potential impact on raising further
the level of awareness of the citizens in protecting
the environment. This is important in changing
people’s behaviour for the better and promises
long term effects in environmental management.
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