EPR law takes effect, Rodriguez says

August 16, 2022 at 10:39 am, No comments

A bill seeking to extend manufacturers responsibility of their plastic products until its end-of-life stage lapsed into law on July 22, 2022.

Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, one of the principal authors of the law in Congress, said that Republic Act 11989 mandates companies to establish Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) programs in their recovery, recycling, cleanup, and transportation of plastic waste for disposal.

Manufacturers will be required to monitor their annual plastic packaging footprint/production, and targets have been set where said companies will have to recover plastic wastes such that by the end of 2023, companies must have recovered 20% of their plastic wastes in 2022. This recovery target rises each year until by 2028 the companies are able to achieve 80% recovery of the plastic they produced.

“With the EPR, Manufacturers must take note of the reusability, retrievability and recyclability of their plastic products. Hence, we are expecting that plastic wastes will be substantially reduced in due course of time,” Rodriguez stressed.

“Along with the enactment of the EPR, all Filipinos, producers and consumers alike, should continue making conscious and conscientious efforts to protect the environment we share from plastic wastes,” he added.

The new law also mandates the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to develop a national framework on all types of waste to guide companies’ EPR programs.

Within six months of its effectivity, large companies, or those above the MSME classification, shall set up EPR programs and established targets on the recovery of plastic wastes.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, in Asia, the Philippines is the world's third-largest polluter with around 2.7 million metric tons of plastic trash generated each year, only next to Indonesia and China. (PR)

Courtesy: Rufus Rodriguez Facebook

EPR law takes effect, Rodriguez says

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