Waste recovery, recycling should come with ‘redesign’
The Philippines’ environmental problems, particularly waste management, need a whole-of-society effort to resolve.
That’s the main point stressed in a recent edition of the Inquirer ESG Edge Connect Network, where representatives of government, private companies, and nongovernmental groups agreed on the importance of every Filipino working with each other to ease environmental issues that make disasters deadlier and more destructive.
The session, the 10th in the series and held at Aruga of Rockwell, discussed the topic “The EPR Horizon: Unpacking the Potential of EPR Compliance.” The Philippines’ EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility Act), or Republic Act No. 11898, amends the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 (RA 9003) to target plastic packaging waste.
Assistant Secretary Ruth Tawantawan of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the keynote speaker, pointed out that the Philippines is at the front line of the ongoing climate crisis, with its environmental vulnerability undermining efforts at economic development.
She described succinctly what the country has had to deal with: “The weight of our waste, the fury of our storms, the inertia of old habits.”
The 2026 World Risk Report put the Philippines at the top of the list of 193 United Nations member states as the most disaster-prone nation. Factors assessed by the report from German institutes included storms, earthquakes, tsunamis, coastal flooding, and sea level rise.
Tawantawan underscored the importance of the EPR law as she noted that the cost of environmental cleanup and sustainability was quite steep.
“Industry must innovate (in dealing with plastic waste),” she said. Recovery of waste was not enough. Creativity was also needed in dealing with the serious problem.
She encouraged producers to work with retailers and consumers in dealing with the issue to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic.
Tawantawan stressed the importance of collaboration and partnerships in dealing with the problem of waste management. She encouraged key stakeholders to “co-design solutions” for the country’s waste problem.
Companies should build “concrete, scalable strategies” to help ease the problem. Every investment they make, the DENR official declared, was an investment in the health and safety of Filipinos.
Doing its share
Atty. Juan Lorenzo Tañada, vice president for corporate and regulatory affairs of Coca-Cola Europacific Aboitiz Philippines (CCEAP), discussed how the giant beverage corporation was doing its share to recover its own plastic waste for reuse and recycling.
He mentioned in particular Tapon to Ipon, CCEAP’s flagship nationwide project for the collection and recycling of clear PET plastic bottles.
Under the program, consumers can exchange the bottles they bring to collection centers, including “sari-sari” stores, for Coca-Cola products, merchandise, or reward points.
CCEAP’s “impactful initiatives are rooted in partnerships,” Tañada said. The corporation was “creating impact through collective action.” Tapon sa Ipon, he added, was an initiative that involved the participation of local governments, wholesalers, retailers, and consumers. Through the program, the company is “building systems” and “investing in partnerships” to advance the goals of the EPR law.
Also needed: ECR
EPR is helping shape the future of the circular economy, said Bert Guevara of the Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability (PARMS). A circular economy is an economic model designed to eliminate waste, keep products and materials in use, and regenerate the natural system.
But beyond EPR, the country also needed ECR or extended consumer responsibility, said Guevara.
EPR, he noted, did not put value on education, so there was no incentive to inform and educate consumers. Producers usually just tried to comply with the law’s requirements.
But every member of the waste value chain, Guevara pointed out, was a waste diverter. “To make EPR effective,” the benefits of recycling should filter down to every member of the chain, starting with households.
Collaboration, Guevara added, was essential in dealing with the plastic waste issue. Innovation and investment in recycling should also be encouraged, since “recycled products are more expensive” than virgin materials.
Main constraint
Mari Martirez of Rezbin Waste Technology Inc. noted that the main constraint to recycling, particularly in households and workplaces, was segregating and cleaning used plastic.
About 65 percent of cost management in the Philippines, Martirez said, was just for segregating and cleaning. “Recycling should be convenient and affordable,” he stressed.
But Martirez also delivered the good news that low-cost local technologies already existed that could be adopted for effective and efficient plastic recycling.
Rezbin has partnered with Coca-Cola for the Tapon to Ipon project.
Like Guevara, Martirez stressed the need to provide incentives to encourage recycling.
During the panel discussion, Guevara said the price paid by buyers made segregation unattractive to waste collectors. It was hard for Filipinos to see the value of segregation, which they also found inconvenient.
People should be encouraged to help collectors by segregating from the source, such as households and workplaces, he said.
Tañada echoed the call of the other speakers to provide incentives to make recycling worthwhile. Laws should provide incentives, like tax credits, to manufacturers to prod them to recycle. Technology should also be adapted to users.
Martirez noted that some plastic recyclers brought materials from abroad because it was cheaper to import than to buy locally. Tañada agreed that there was not enough used plastic for local recyclers.
Still, Guevara stressed that no effort was too small in the campaign to reduce plastic waste in the country. “We need to educate ourselves and learn what is recyclable,” he said.
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