Single Use Plastic Items Join Banned List

On Friday, July 1, the second phase of a law aimed at the reduction and replacement of single-use plastics came into force prohibiting the use and sale of plastic containers for eggs, disposable plastic stirrers, and disposable plastic plates. The Ministry of the Environment highlighted that the items can be replaced by biodegradable materials like wood, sugar cane bagasse, abaca fiber, jute fiber, bamboo wood, corn, cassava, and corn starch. In the first stage of the regulation, which entered into force on July 1, 2021, the distribution and use of ear swabs, plastic covers for laundry clothes, plastic rods to hold balloons, and plastic toothpicks were banned.