With the enactment of RA 11898, also known as the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022, the Philippines moves one step closer to advancing a circular economy and addressing the country’s plastic waste problem towards a more sustainable future.
Global food and beverage leader Nestlé Philippines is among the early, if not the earliest, advocates and adopters of EPR in the country. It has actively campaigned for the passage of the EPR Act through sustained dialogue with government policymakers, and active participation in the legislative process. Two years before the law was enacted, Nestlé PH had already started voluntarily practicing EPR through its initiatives to attain plastic neutrality.
“Plastic waste is a global problem in which everybody has a stake. Through collaboration, we will find workable solutions. This roundtable is a collaborative effort among policymakers, business leaders, government agencies, and change makers. We have come together to discuss how we can accelerate the transition to a waste-free, circular economy. In particular, a major challenge is the lack of waste management infrastructure in the country,” said Nestlé senior vice president and head of corporate affairs Jose Uy III during a roundtable dialogue with stakeholders and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The DENR said RA 11898 is a good start and a wiser approach to waste reduction that allows producers to take on environmental responsibility and improves the equity in the process of waste management.
“EPR is proven to address packaging collection through recycling meaningfully and through various EPR schemes that require companies to pay for the collection, sorting and recycling of their plastic packaging,” said DENR secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga.
The law requires large-scale companies and enterprises to be environmentally responsible throughout the life cycle of their products―from manufacturing, usage, and post-consumer stage―by establishing EPR programs and mechanisms that ensure effective reduction, recovery, treatment, and recycling and/or disposal of waste, especially plastic packaging.