A panel in the House of Representatives has created a technical working group that will finetune House Bill 4922 which seeks to require brand owners of beverages to implement management plans to refund values of beverage containers to prevent them from becoming environmental pollutants.
The House committee on ecology, chaired by Rep. Estrellita Suansing of Nueva Ecija, named Rep. Enrico Pineda head of the TWG that will finalize the bill authored by Rep. Ramon Rocamora of Siquijor.
The proposed “Beverage Container Disposal Act” mandates each beverage brand owner to implement an effective redemption, transportation, processing, marketing, and reporting system for the reuse and recycling of used beverage containers of the brand owner.
A 2015 annual report of the International Coastal Cleanup of Ocean Conservancy cited that a total of 18,062,911 pounds of trash were collected from beaches and waterways around the world. Some 665,294 pounds of this trash came from the Philippines alone. Waste related to beverage containers (bottles and caps) amounted to 60,584 individual pieces that were recovered around the country.
The bill defines a brand owner is a person who owns the beverage trademark, manufactures, distributes, or imports for resale, a beverage sold in a beverage container.
It refers to a beverage container agency as either the brand owner or an entity appointed by the brand owner to act as an agent on behalf of the brand owner.
Meanwhile, a beverage container is defined as a container primarily made of metal, glass, plastic, or paper (or a combination of these materials) and has a capacity of not more than one gallon of liquid.
The bill provides that no brand owner or beverage container agency shall dispose of any beverage container in any landfill or other solid waste disposal facility.
Moreover, no brand owner may sell or offer for sale a beverage in a beverage container unless a statement of the refund value of the beverage container is clearly, prominently, and securely affixed to, printed on, or embossed on the beverage container.
Refund value refers to the value of a beverage container whose adjustment in price shall be reviewed and amended every five years.
Such adjustment shall be based on the changes in the Consumer Price Index published by the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Effective Jan. 1, 2019, the refund value of a beverage container shall be P10.