BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance regulating the transport, storage, reuse, recycling, reprocessing, or disposal of used cooking oil and greasetrap waste by hotels and restaurants, bakeshops, canteens, food stalls and similarly situated establishments in the city and providing penalties for violations of the measure.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. stated that it will be a declared policy of the local government to prevent or minimize the health hazards on grounds and water pollution caused by the improper disposal of, transport, storage, reuse, recycling or reprocessing of used cooking oil or greasetrap waste by food establishments and other responsible entities operating in the different parts of the city.
The ordinance added the measure shall apply to all food establishments using cooking oil and are generating greastrap waste such as, but to limited to, hotel or lodge kitchens, restaurants, cafeterias, kitchenettes, canteens, food outlets, food chains, food stalls and other similarly situated establishments within the city.
The ordinance claimed all used cooking oil and greastrap waste from any food establishment shall be transported, stored, re-used, recycled, reprocessed, treated and disposed only upon coordination with the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) and the City Health Services Office (CHSO)–Sanitation Division.
Under the proposed ordinance, it shall be unlawful for the food establishments operating in the city to commit the non-segregation of used cooking oil and greasetrap waste, illegal disposal and selling of used cooking oil and greastrap waste to unauthorized buyers, collection, transport and disposal of used cooking oil and greasetrap waste by unauthorized persons and non-registration for clearance with the CEPMO and the CHSO.
The ordinance stipulated that owners, administrators, managers or occupants of food establishments who shall fail to comply with the provisions of the measure shall be liable to pay the fine of P2,000 for the first offense, a fine of P3,000 for the second offense and a fine of P5,000 and relocation of business permit of the establishments for the third and succeeding offenses.
The ordinance tasked the CEPMO to lead in the strict implementation of the pertinent provisions of the local legislative measure and it shall be the duty of the implementing officers to widely disseminate the necessary information that will inform and enjoin owners and occupants of food establishments to observe the measure, prepare an annual report describing the progress in the implementation of the ordinance, coordinate with the CHSO–Sanitation Division and the Permits and Licensing Division for the implementation of the measure and coordinate with the relevant national government agencies, including the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and other concerned agencies for the implementation of the applicable provisions.
Yangot explained the proposal aims to encourage the people in the city to reduce their consumption of over used cooking oil by understanding the dangers of reusing cooking oil underscoring the importance of properly disposing the same because the chemical structure of cooking oil undergoes changes during heating, and the same could lead to deadly diseases such as cancer. By Dexter A. See
