Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 2)— The Supreme Court announced Monday that it has implemented an “outright” ban on single-use plastics in its offices in line with the campaign to promote sustainability.
The high court, in a memorandum dated February 28, said it has adopted the strategy of the National Solid Waste Management Commission, an attached agency of the Environment Department, which sought to ban all kinds of single-use plastic products in government offices nationwide.
NSWMC Resolution No. 1363, which was approved last week, prohibits the “unnecessary” use of plastic products— particularly cups less than 0.2 millimeter in thickness, drinking straws, coffee stirrers, spoons, forks, knives, “labo” or thin and translucent plastic bags, and thin-filmed sando bags lower than 15 microns.
The move is seen as a major step to curb the use of items that “pollute waterways, kill marine life and contribute to our country’s increasing solid waste.”
“This directive is consistent with the Court’s efforts towards sustainability,” SC said in its statement.
