BANNING SINGLE USE PLASTICS

BANNING SINGLE USE PLASTICS

Dear Mr. President: The good news is, our Congress has passed almost all the necessary laws banning single use plastics in the Philippines. The bad news is, the DENR appears to be having difficulty in implementing these laws. I wonder what the problem is? Could it be a lack of funding? Or a lack of manpower? Or a lack of interest? Or could it be that the DENR has too much to do, such that paying attention to single use plastics is way belong among their priorities? Or could it be that they are facing opposition from strong industry lobbies?

The National Solid Waste Commission (NSWC) was created under Republic Act 9003, also known as the Ecological Solid Waste Act of 2000 (ESWA). The NWSC was created for the purpose of implementing the ESWA law. In 2020, the NSWC issued Resolution No. 1363, banning “unnecessary single-use plastics”. The ban covers National Government Agencies (NGAs), Local Government Units (LGUs) and all other government offices and instrumentalities. Unfortunately, compliance to the resolution appears to be very slow, even after four years. This appears to be a real problem Sir, because if the government could not implement environmental laws within its own ranks, how would it be able to implement these laws nationwide?

In addition to ESWA, the Extended Producer Responsibility Act (EPRA) was also passed in 2022, to further strengthen our waste management laws by making producers responsible for the entire lifecycle of their plastic packaging, including post-consumer waste. According to Microsoft Copilot, the combination of ESWA and EPRA was “meant to broaden the government’s efforts to promote sustainable consumption and production practices in the country”. Sad to say Mr. President, after about twenty years, the solid waste management system in our country has not improved.

According to the ESWA, the de facto Chairman of the NSWC is the DENR Secretary. According to the EPRA, the actual implementation of the said law is assigned to the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), an agency that is also under the DENR Secretary. These functions include overseeing the compliance of “covered enterprises” with the EPR requirements, also including the recovery, treatment, recycling and disposal of plastic packaging waste. That said, it is very clear that the DENR is solely responsible for banning the use of single-use plastic in the Philippines, and no one else.

While the term “unnecessary single-use plastics” might have been vague, the term “covered enterprises” is clear as day. The term “unnecessary” is very subjective and arguable, and the determination of what is “necessary” and what is not might even be a temptation for corruption. However, the term “covered enterprises” clearly covers all companies that are producing all forms of one-way plastics, supposedly without exception. And so, if that is so, why is it Mr. President, that so many of these plastic packaging wastes are not recovered, treated, recycled and disposed?

Additionally, Mr. President, the ESWA also mandates all barangays or clusters of barangays to establish Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs). The purpose of these facilities is to intercept recyclables such as glass bottles, aluminum cans, plastic packaging and paper stocks, so that these will not end up in the dumpsites or landfills and would instead be sold to junkshops. Sir, if only the DENR could be encouraged to actively implement both ESWA and EPRA more vigorously, then perhaps we could manage our solid waste problem better. IKE SENERES/11-04-2024

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