TO MARK companies Lazada and Shopee to do their part for the environment by cutting back on the use of disposable plastic materials for their packaging and deliveries.Coleen Salamat, Plastic Solutions Campaigner of EcoWaste Coalition, ina statement, said Lazada and Shopee will again hold a mid-year grand sale starting June 6, 2022 which will add to more packaging and plastic waste being burned or dumped into the environment.“We urge these companies to implement a genuine plastic use reduction scheme and to support their sellers and logistic providers to implement similar measures,” she added.The group said the rapid growth of e-commerce was observed during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the sector is valued at P1.2 trillion which is equivalent to 5.5 percent of the country’s economy in 2022, it added.However, the eco-group lamented that plastic waste generated from e-commerce packaging adds an additional and unnecessary burden to cities and communities that are already having a hard time coping with increased solid waste brought by the pandemic.“Lazada and Shopee should be responsible for the waste that they help create and support global efforts to save our climate and environment,” Salamat also said, adding that cutting back on their plastic waste should be a very simple step for these multi-million companies. Let us stop sacrificing our environment for profit.In October 2021, over 15,000 individuals signed a petition by Youth Strike for Climate Philippines and Greenpeace demanding these e-commerce companies to reduce unnecessary plastics such as bubble wraps, and multi-layer plastics used in packages and deliveries. (with PR)