THE Senate on Monday, January 31, 2022, passed on third and final reading a bill that would mandate large companies to adopt and implement policies for the proper management of plastic packaging.
Voting 22-0-0, the lawmakers passed Senate Bill (SBN) 2425, which seeks to institutionalize the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and in effect amend Republic Act 9003, or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.
Sen. Cynthia Villar, chairperson of the Senate committee on environment, natural resources and climate change, said the bill was crafted in response to the clamor for the regulation of single-use plastics and their production, importation and disposal by industries.
“It is not a solution in itself, but it is a move in the right direction, I believe. We need to rescue our country from being a marine litter culprit and demonstrate that a developing country can and will make this work,” Villar said following the measure’s third reading approval.
Through the EPR, obliged companies “have the responsibility for the proper and effective recovery, treatment, recycling or disposal of their products after they have been sold and used by consumers” to reduce packaging waste generation and improve the recyclability and reusability of packaging wastes.
Obliged companies would include producers, manufacturers and importers of consumer goods using plastic packaging. They shall be responsible for making financial contributions to support the collection, recovery, transportation, processing, recycling and disposal of their plastic packaging wastes.
Micro, small and medium enterprises would not be required to have EPR programs, the bill stated.
SBN 2425 sets targets until 2030 for the compliance of the required companies to “improve their performance over time.”
Producers, distributors, retailers implementing EPR programs would also be eligible to tax incentives.
On the other hand, fines ranging from P5 million to P20 million were proposed as penalties for failure to comply with the mandated EPR, as well as failure to meet the targets imposed by the bill.
“It is a sad reality that the Philippines is not in a good place when it comes to plastic wastes. The Philippines is the world’s third-largest source of plastic waste leaking into the ocean and we have yet to improve our ranking. We hope to contribute to solving this through this legislation,” Villar said.
“The EPR bill is not meant to put additional burden to the companies who are plastic packaging wastes generators, but rather it is an acknowledgment and a call for help that the plastic waste problem will not be solved without their invaluable cooperation,” she pointed out. (with PR)