Rep. Rosemond B. Santos’ House Bill 16-166, or the Plastic Bag Reduction Act of 2008, seeks to penalize stores that will not use “green bags.”
Santos, R-Saipan, said being environmentally conscious is very important especially for island communities like the Northern Marianas which hosts tens of thousands of tourists every year.
“Although the recycling of plastics is being promoted, it has been proven to be difficult and costs more to process and recycle plastic bags than other items. It is therefore the purpose of this legislation to prohibit the use of non-compostable plastic bags at stores within the CNMI,” the bill stated.
Rep. Ramon Tebuteb, R-Saipan and the chairman of the House Standing Committee on Natural Resources, is now soliciting comments from different government agencies and other entities regarding H.B. 16-166.
Among those who were asked to comment were Commerce Secretary Michael Ada, Public Health Secretary Joseph Kevin Villagomez and Lands and Natural Secretary Dr. Ignacio Dela Cruz.
Tebuteb said his committee will accept comments about the measure until Nov. 14.
