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Saturday, April 09, 2005
Peña: Packaging waste
By Rox Peña
Part I
FOOD packaging design has undergone lot of changes over the years to suit people's changing lifestyle. The trend is towards cheap, durable, lightweight, safe and user-friendly packaging materials. Note that glass containers are increasingly replaced by PET (Polyethylene Teraphthalate) bottles and other types of plastic materials like HDPE (High Density Polyethylene). Our penchant for retailed goods or tingi on everything from shampoo to catsup has popularized the use sachets.
With the increasing problem on solid waste today, designers and manufacturers of packaging materials are faced with a new challenge: environmental acceptability. The environmental impact of a product after its use has to be considered because of new legal requirements and the commitment of many companies to be socially responsible. Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, defines "environmentally acceptable" as the quality of being re-usable, biodegradable or compostable, recyclable and not toxic or hazardous to the environment.
Let me cite the provisions of RA 9003 that pertains to this topic:
Section 29. Non Environmentally Acceptable Products - Within one (1) year after the effectivity of this Act, the Commission shall, after public notice and hearing, prepare a list of non-environmentally acceptable products as defined in this Act that shall be prohibited according to a schedule that shall be prepared by the commission: Provided, however, that non-environmentally acceptable products shall not be prohibited unless the Commission (The National Solid Waste Management Commission or NSWMC) first finds that there are alternatives available to consumers at no more than 10% greater cost than the disposable product.
Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, this section shall not apply to: (a) Packaging used at hospitals, nursing homes or other medical facilities; and (b) Any packaging which is not environmentally acceptable, but for which there is no commercially available alternatives as determined by the Commission. The Commission shall annually review and update the list of prohibited non-environmentally acceptable products.
Declaring a packaging material as non-environmentally acceptable will surely be a very long and tedious process. It will require highly technical discussions and may even reach the courts.
I learned last Monday during the Residual Waste Management Conference that the controversial ordinance of Makati City which required the gradual phase-out in the use of some plastic materials, in now the subject of a legal battle. The ordinance was initially brought to the attention of the NSWMC but was sustained by the commission citing the powers of LGUs under the local government code.
To continue, Section 30 of RA 9003 prohibits the use of non-environmentally acceptable packaging. It says: "No person owning, operating or conducting a commercial establishment in the country shall sell or convey at retail or possess with the intent to sell or convey any products that are placed, wrapped or packaged in or on packaging which is not environmentally acceptable packaging: Provided, That the Commission shall determine a phase out period after proper consultation and hearing with the stakeholders or with sectors concerned."
Not provided in the law is the "buy back" scheme implemented by some countries, which is technically known as "extended producers responsibility." Under such scheme, the manufacturers are required to have a system to recover their products after their useful life. Former environment secretary Elisea "Bebet" Gozun said last Monday that they recommended this scheme to be part of the law but it was not given favorable response. Probably our lawmakers want us to do the basics of waste management first, like recycling and composting, before we proceed to more complex systems. (To be continued)
(April 9, 2005 issue)
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