Introduction

Plastic bags are one of the most common items in everyday life. They are at the

heart of a fight raging in municipalities world-wide. Many cities around the globe have

already banned the ubiquitous bags from stores, and activists are pushing for bans

elsewhere. These activists argue that cities must spend vast sums to clean up the bags

and the litter caused by them, money that is better spent elsewhere. Not to mention that

plastic bags are blight on the environment, polluting waterways and other natural areas

and killing off animals (Bentley West Management Consultants, 2014).

In South Cotabato, specifically in Koronadal City, an action prohibiting the usage

of plastic packaging was implemented for the citizens of the area. Koronadal City

prohibits the use of plastic bags every Saturday by virtue of Ordinance No. 05 series of

2016. The “no plastic, no styro” policy was imposed to promote a “plastic-free lifestyle”

among its workforce and eventually reduce the non-biodegradable wastes accumulated

by the local government’s offices and operations. The city intends to later expand the

coverage of such policy to the city’s main and satellite public markets, local

government-owned facilities, transport terminals, various public areas, local

communities and households. With this ordinance, the usage of plastic packaging can

be reduced and can ultimately lessen the toxic waste that plastic packaging leave

behind once thrown away.

General Ordinance No. 17 also known as “The Anti-Plastic Bag Ordinance” was

issued by the Municipality of Polomolok on July 10, 2014. This ordinance prohibits the

use of plastic carry-out bags on dry goods and regulating its use on wet goods, and
regulating the use of styrofoam in the Municipality of Polomolok, Province of South

Cotabato and prescribing penalties thereof”.

This ordinance seeks to change consumer behavior. Its core motives towards

shifting habits from mindless consumption to a lifestyle that is anchored on the 3 R’s of

Waste Management implies the proper use of packaging materials on dry and wet

goods. It seeks to regulate the generation of waste from plastic bags by creating an

economic option for consumers to use reusable carry bags or redeem used plastic bags

for new plastic bags.

This study aims to analyze the effects of the regulation of the Municipality of

Polomolok on the use of certain packaging materials. With the success rate of its

economy, businesses will start growing and pollution will dominate the area, in the

hopes of preventing this from happening,

This study will be able to assess the awareness level of General Ordinance No.

17 in the Municipality of Polomolok. Once the ordinance reaches full effectivity, new

opportunities will begin to emerge for entrepreneurs affecting the economy, and a

cleaner and safer environment will be created for the people.

Scope and Limitation

The study will analyze the effects of the ordinance on the usage of plastic

packaging materials in Polomolok, South Cotabato. Surveys and questionnaires will be

given to the respondents from the business and household sectors specified in this
study. Furthermore, the respondents will be categorized according to their demographic

profile; age, sex and educational attainment. Moreover, this study will evaluate the

awareness level of the different sectors and the effectiveness of the implementation of

the ordinance.

The data will be gathered in Poblacion, Polomolok, South Cotabato on October

15, 2017. There will be ten respondents from each sector totaling to twenty respondents

in the study.

Discussion

The results of the study show that 60% of the business sector

Conclusion

Through the use of the ….we can conclude that out of 10 businessmen prefer