DAVAO CITY—Since Monday, city hall employees here were told not to use plastic cups and other disposable plastic items in meetings and activities of the local government; instead they are encouraged to use re-usable cups and utensils.

City administrator Zuleika Lopez said it was a way to help ease the increasing garbage collection in the city.

"We have met with supply officers, procurement team, the bids and awards committee and we have also discussed it with administrative officers of all departments," she said.

Environmentalist group Interface Development Interventions Inc. (IDIS), which welcomed the move, also urged city council to pass an ordinance against plastic cups so that it will not only be implemented inside the city hall, but all throughout Davao City.

IDIS executive director Chinkie Golle said that garbage in the city has been accumulating, and the increasing volume is one of the major challenges of Davao.

'WORST POLLUTER'

According to environmental group, Greenpeace, the Philippines ranked as the third worst polluter of the world's oceans, after China and Indonesia.

Plastic is not only making the ocean dirty, but it is also harmful to marine resources.

On Tuesday, a dead whale shark was found along the coastline of Barangay Busaon in Tagum City, and based on the necropsy of D' Bone Collector Museum, a plastic cup and candy wrappers were stuck in the gills of the butanding, which led to death by suffocation.

Davao-based bone collector Darrell Blatchley said that in a span of 9 months, his group has recovered 58 dead whales, 54 of which were killed after being trapped in a fishing net or after it swallowed plastic garbage.