Soon, You'll Have to Drink Your Milk Tea Without a Plastic Straw

Plastic straws and coffee stirrers may soon be banned in the Philippines, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said on February 4  after the said items were included in a list of "non-environmentally acceptable products." The possible prohibition will form part of the implementation of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, the environment department said in a statement posted on their official Facebook page.

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While it has been over two decades since the solid waste management law was passed, it was only this week that a draft resolution containing the list of non-environmentally acceptable products (NEAP) was prepared in order to "comply with the law to combat environmental damage," Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said.

Based on the law, a list of non-environmentally acceptable products should have been prepared a year after the measure took effect and should have subsequently been prohibited as scheduled by authorities. "This is long overdue and we need to catch up with the demand of solid waste management in our country," said Antiporda, noting that "the prohibition on these two single-use plastic items may be small steps in the NEAP listing, but it is a big leap when it comes to compliance with the provisions of [the law]."

The Philippines is among the world's "worst offenders" of marine plastic pollution according to a study by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, or GAIA. In 2019, GAIA released a report that said Filipinos use an overwhelming amount of single-use plastic at about 60 billion sachets a year.

This story originally appeared on Reportr.world. Minor edits have been made by the editors.

To help you prepare for the plastic-straw ban, check out our list of reusable straws you can shop online:

Milk Tea Set (P150) from Sip PH 

Bamboo Straw Set (P200) from Bambuhay

Pyrex Glass Straws (P265) from Paraluman 

#NotPlastic Metal Straw (P200) from WWF

Premium Set with Cleaning Brush in Rainbow (P350) from TRVLR

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Source: Spot PH