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On January 24, 2023, the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 11898, also known as the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022. The IRR detailed specific requirements for EPR registration, audits, among others. It takes effect on February 17, 2023.
Plastic Packaging Covered by EPR
Under the RA, plastic packaging includes the following types:
Flexible plastic packaging, e.g., sachets, labels, laminates, either single or multilayered with plastics or other materials;
Rigid plastic packaging, whether layered with other materials, e.g., containers for beverages, food, household products, personal care and cosmetic products, including their coverings, caps, or lids and other necessities or promotional items such as cutlery, plates, drinking straws, or sticks, tarps, signage, or labels;
Plastic bags, including single-use plastic bags for carrying or transporting goods, and provided or utilized at the point of sale;
Polystyrene (belonging to other plastic products that are used in business-to-business transactions and otherwise not intended for sale to the general public).
Who Needs to Comply
Obliged enterprises (OEs) refers to the following entities that generate plastic packaging waste:
Brand owners, manufacturers and importers in the Philippines (with total assets of P100 million or more)
MSMEs when the total value of assets of all enterprises carrying the same brand, label or trademark exceeds P100 million (on a voluntary basis)
Taken into account of the difficulty for most businesses to implement EPR programs themselves, OEs may opt to work with other OEs or Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs). A PRO refers to an organization that is either formed or authorized by obliged enterprises with the function of supporting them in the formulation, registration, implementation and audit of their EPR programs.
EPR Registration
As required by the RA, obliged enterprises must register EPR programs for plastic packaging with National Ecology Center (NEC) by February 13, 2023. The IRR presents six plastic reduction strategies that OEs can do as part of their EPR programs:
Adoption of reusable products, or redesign of the products to improve its reusability, recyclability, or retrievability;
Inclusion of recycled content or recycled materials in a product;
Adoption of appropriate product refilling systems for retailers;
Viable reduction rates plan;
Information and education campaign schemes; and
Appropriate labeling of products, including the information thereon for the proper disposal of the waste product.
To effectively prevent waste from leaking to the environment, the IRR also provides six waste recovery programs for OEs to adopt:
Waste recovery schemes through redemption, buy-back and offsetting with the goal of achieving high retrievability, high recyclability and resource recovery of packaging waste;
Diversion of recovered waste with the intention of diverting packaging waste into value chains or other value-adding useful products;
Transportation of recovered waste to proper diversion or disposal sites, ensuring proper tracking for traceability and transparency;
Involvement in waste clean-up in coastal and public areas, with close coordination with local government and communities;
Investment in establishing commercial or industrial waste diversion or disposal facilities, backed by a business case or pre-feasibility study to justify the insufficiency of existing facilities in the country; and
Partnerships with local governments, communities and informal waste sectors for waste recovery-related purposes, ensuring the adequate and proper involvement of key stakeholders in the EPR program implementation.
Audits
OEs or PRos shall engage an independent third-party auditor to certify the veracity of the reported plastic product footprint generation, recovery, and EPR program compliance. The audited report, a.k.a. EPR compliance audit report (ECAR) shall be submitted to DENR. The deadline for submission of ECAR for the immediately preceding year shall be on June 30 or the first working day immediately thereafter of the current year.
ChemLinked Comment
The implementation of IRR marks a crucial step to the Philippines’ transition to circular economy. The DENR points out that the success of the implementation of the EPR law heavily depends on the cooperation and compliance of the private sector. A shift in mindset is necessary for businesses to meet regulatory needs and sustainable goals. Companies should start to incorporate EPR programs into their long-term corporate strategies and annual plans.
