At least 35,000 factory workers face unemployment due to Plastic Ban enforcement

At least 35,000 workers in plastic factories stand to lose their jobs as more cities in Metro Manila start implementing bans on the use of plastic packaging.

 

Makati City began enforcing its ban on plastic and non-biodegradable packaging materials Thursday. The city government deployed at least 49 monitoring teams to various business establishments and business areas to check the public's compliance with the ban.

 

Philippine Plastics Industry Association (PPIA) President Peter Quintana said in an interview with GMA News TV's State of the Nation that an estimated 20 percent of the recorded 175,000 workers in plastic factories may be laid off from their jobs as the business operations of their factories have been badly affected by the ban. 

 

Some of the smaller plastic manufacturing companies, meanwhile, have already shut down due to banktruptcy.

 

“Ang mga natitirang mga trabaho is yung mga regular employees. They're also suffering kasi some of them are only working three to four days sa isang linggo,” Quintana said.

 

Willy Go, the co-owner of a plastics manufacturing company, lamented that he had to lay off as much as 100 workers after the plastic bans were implemented. He lost job orders from big corporations that were once his clients.

 

“Mahirap makabawi kasi talagang eh, bulto ng production namin sando bag e. So ngayon gumagawa kami ng iba, mga pang-industrial. Yung mga pang-wrapper ng pagkain, lalagyan ng mga bote,” he said.

 

At present, 11 out of the 17 cities in Metro Manila have passed ordinances banning the use of business packaging. These are the cities of Makati, Marikina, Malabon, Taguig, Mandaluyong, Pasay, Quezon, Pasig, Muntinlupa, Las Piñas, and the municipality of Pateros.

 

The cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, San Juan, Parañaque, and Manila, meanwhile, have yet to impose plastic bans.

 

In Makati City, individual violators of the ban may be fined P1,000 or jailed from five to 30 days, while erring business establishments face a P5,000 fine or the owner's imprisonment from 30 days to a year. — Xianne Arcangel/VC, GMA News