The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reported that registered businesses have met their target of diverting plastics by 20 percent in the first year of implementing the Expanded Producers’ Responsibility (EPR) Act.
According to the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), a total of 624,547 tons unaudited footprint for plastics in 2023 was reported and 20 percent or 124,986 tons of plastic packaging were reported to have been diverted.
DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga gave credit to private enterprises for achieving significant strides toward the “shared goal of building a circular economy where waste is minimized, resources are protected, and the delicate balance of our planet is restored.”
Businesses have achieved this 20% target was achieved through waste collection and diversion, including recovery, transportation, and cleanup efforts in coastal and public areas, Loyzaga said.
At the event marking the World Environment Day and Philippine Environment Month, the DENR chief expressed optimism that the Philippines will hit the target of recovering and diverting 80% of plastic packaging by 2028.
The early gains have been made in less than two years since the enabling law, Republic Act 11898 or the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act, came into force in 2022, Loyzaga said in a keynote speech entitled “Linking Opportunities and Partnerships Towards Circular Economy” at SM Masinag, Antipolo, Rizal.
Circular economy is about the practice of reducing, reusing and recycling, a 1970s concept of 3Rs which has appeared to be modified and improvised in 2013 through a report entitled Towards the Circular Economy: Economic and Business Rationale for an Accelerated Transition, commissioned by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
The EPR law requires businesses to conduct proper waste management of plastic packaging products such as sachets, rigid plastic packaging products, plastic bags, and polystyrene.
The EMB also reported a 37 per cent increase in the number of businesses that registered under the EPR program, from 667 in 2023 to 917 companies as of May 6, 2024.
Under the EPR Act, the targets for the recovery of plastic product footprint are: 2023, 20%; 2024, 40%; 2025, 50%; 2026, 60%; 2027, 70%; and, 2028, 80%.
Amid the rollout of the EPR Act, the DENR has issued Administrative Order (DAO) 2024-04 promulgating the interim guidelines on the compliance audit reporting for legally bound enterprises under the EPR law. The guidelines–developed by the DENR with the Audit and Assurance Standards Council and Financial and Sustainability Reporting Standards Council–are adopted, while the uniform standards for EPR compliance auditing and reporting, as well as the accreditation rules and procedures for independent third-party EPR compliance auditors, are yet to be finalized.
Entitled as “Compliance Reporting and Audit Guidelines for Republic Act No. 11898 or the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022,” the DAO aims to help EPR-registered obliged enterprises, collectives, and producer responsibility organizations and their respective independent third-party auditors with the annual EPR Compliance Audit Report (ECAR). It provides temporary guidance and templates for developing the ECAR, constituting the EPR Compliance and Audit reports.
The deadline for the submission to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of the ECARs is on June 30 or the first working day immediately after that of the year.
Loyzaga said, «The urgency of our mission is underscored by the growing impacts of linear consumption patterns as evidenced by the staggering volume of waste generated daily in our country.»
Moving away from the linear economy model of take-make-dispose, EPR is crucial in advancing a circular economy. It enhances the efficient use of materials and redirects processes from the end of the supply chain back to the beginning.
“This supports the country’s achievement of its nationally determined contribution as mentioned by the Climate Change Commission especially in, with regard to our waste wherein the circular economy and sustainable consumption and production have been identified as key mitigation measures against climate change. It also supports our sustainable development goals on climate action, on the protection of life on land and under sea, zero hunger, water and establishing sustainable cities as well as regards our poverty issues,” said Secretary Loyzaga.
“We have set very ambitious goals for reducing waste and this requires transformative, system-wide actions, and large-scale implementations,” she added