How LGUs can help implement EPR in their locales
The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill lapsed into law in the Philippines in July 2022, requiring big companies to recover a portion of their plastic packaging waste to eliminate unnecessary packaging and adopt more environmentally friendly designs.
The EPR law revised the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000, which initially gave the sole responsibility of solid waste management to the local government units (LGUs). The new law does not indicate a specific role for the LGUs in EPR, but environment experts believe they must work hand-in-hand with the companies to incorporate EPR into their solid waste management system.
LGUs are still responsible for managing waste in their locales, but now the EPR law has divided that responsibility with the actual producers of plastic packaging waste, addressing the problem at the source.
Apart from alleviating that burden, there are other benefits to EPR for LGUs.
For example, Donsol, a coastal town with over 50,000 residents in coastal and upland communities, spends millions in the collection, segregation, and diversion of their waste. Their policies include segregated collection, diversion to waste processing facilities, and data monitoring.
“Other than the benefits, we believe that the EPR will unburden the LGU somehow of the expenses,” said engineer Jean Rose Cadag, Donsol LGU Environmental Management Specialist, during the Donsol local government’s EPR forum in partnership with WWF-Philippines.
Since Donsol is a popular tourist spot for its whale shark population, a big chunk of the LGU’s budget is allotted to storing and disposing residual waste. Some of the waste that ends up on its coasts also flows from nearby towns.
“With EPR, I think we will increase our plastic recovery. Diversion will also increase while reducing those sent to landfills, so our allotment will be lessened,” explained Cadag, who added that obliged companies may also offer to cover a portion of the tipping fees the LGUs pay to waste management facilities.
Important role
The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of Region V also believes LGUs have an important role in implementing EPR as middlemen that can bring sectors to participate in the EPR and connect such sectors to obliged companies.
“Si LGU din naman ‘yung may kakayahan para financially, technically, para matulungan ‘yung sector na ‘yun na i-connect sa PROs, sa obliged enterprises,” said Carlo Lorenzana, senior environmental management specialist of EMB Region V.
EMB also suggested integrating informal waste workers into the EPR system and providing incentives. The LGUs can collaborate with the private companies to incentivize the waste collectors and aggregators to formally collect waste, and the data from the collections will be part of the EPR monitoring scheme.
As a group of forum participants pointed out, with EPR, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by avoiding plastic dumping on landfills and implementing recycling, which also helps reduce land, water, and air pollution.
Through proper implementation of the EPR program involving multiple sectors, a circular economy is possible where materials are designed to be reused so no plastics end up befouling nature.
“In time, this (integrated) approach would prove helpful in advancing a community-based approach to resolving waste management issues and other environmental concerns,” said Michael Anthony Santos, program manager of WWF-Philippines’ EPR program.
