Plastic
It is good that Cebu City has chosen not to go the way of Mandaue City. The Cebu City Council has rejected a proposed amendment that would have clamped a total ban on plastic bags within its jurisdiction instead of the current ban on their use only on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Over in Mandaue City, the complete ban was ostensibly to clear up waterways and solve flooding. Well, after several years of a complete plastic bag ban, Mandaue City still goes under water each time it rains, and the only thing it can show for the ban is a lot of shopping inconvenience for the ban.
Now, do not get me wrong. As a fellow citizen of Planet Earth, I too am for the protection of the environment. But I am not one to drop the name of the environment just to promote my political interests, of which I have none. What I am for is the protection of the environment in measured, doable and practical ways.
And banning plastic bags is not the way to do it. Plastic bags are not the only materials clogging up waterways and causing floods, the way Mandaue City simplistically thinks. A host of other materials, and not just plastic bags, also does so. And they do not just stay in waterways. Eventually, they end up in the seas and oceans.
What politicians should do, if they are as good as they preach about the environment, is punish the people who irresponsibly throw these materials everywhere. Remember, these materials are inanimate objects. They cannot move from one point to another unless people take them there.
There should be hefty fines and longer jail terms for those caught throwing things anywhere. To be sure, it is tough keeping tabs on the movements of every godforsaken s.o.b. that walks this earth. But one does not have to watch everybody else. Just catch a few to set an example and the rest will tie the line. Remember counter-flowing? It worked until somebody got soft.
In other words, all it takes is the political will to enforce a few relevant laws and people will get the message. But if you do something stupid, inconsequential and irrelevant such as banning plastic bags while turning your other cheek to all other forms of plastic such as water bottles and fastfood utensils and foam, to name a few, you are only wasting your time.
So how about it, my dear politicians? Do you really think you can solve in your one-square-inch sphere of influence what the whole world has failed up to this time? Now do not get me wrong. Doing something is better than doing nothing, right? So do it. No need for any ban. Just enforce anti-littering or other similar and relevant laws strictly and see what happens.
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