DENR seeks EPR resilience

Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or DENR, Secretary Antonia Loyzaga urged "obliged enterprises" to invest in building resilient communities as part of their Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, implementation by providing livelihood opportunities and capacity-building programs.

Obliged enterprises are product producers required to implement an EPR program under Republic Act 11898 or the EPR Act of 2022. These are large enterprises that generate plastic packaging waste.

Under the law, large enterprises refer to "any business entity whose total assets, inclusive of those arising from loans but exclusive of the land on which the particular business entity's office, plant and equipment are situated, are exceeding that of medium enterprises stated under Republic Act (RA) 9501, otherwise known as the "Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises."

MSMEs not covered by law 

The law states that MSMEs are not covered under the law. However, in case the total value of assets of all enterprises carrying the same brand, label or trademark exceeds that of medium enterprises stated under RA 9501, these enterprises shall be deemed obliged enterprises.

The DENR recently launched its nationwide EPR campaign aimed at boosting compliance to help eliminate plastic waste from the country's natural ecosystems.

The EPR Act, also known as RA 11898, sets ambitious waste reduction targets, necessitating transformative, system-wide actions, and large-scale implementation.

"I call on our partners to include in their programs the improvement of livelihood of waste pickers in their communities through the development of alternative opportunities for livelihood and the incorporation into the evolving formal solid waste management industry," Loyzaga said.

Resilient communities

Loyzaga said resilient communities always include the vulnerable populations such as the informal waste sector and stressed the need to improve their status and work conditions, and invest in capacity building to transform their vulnerability.

Apart from livelihood opportunities, other initiatives can include financial literacy programs and trainings to build entrepreneurship skills.

She added that it is necessary to capacitate LGUs and the other sectors working with them to implement a robust system on data recording, tracking, analysis, and reporting.

The EPR law places the responsibility for managing plastic waste on its producers, emphasizing waste reduction, recovery, and diversion through EPR programs.

Obliged enterprises are initially required to recover 20 percent of their plastic product footprint, increasing it to 40 percent by 2024 and reaching 80 percent by 2028.

Waste management solutions

She highlighted that solutions for waste management must be coupled with approaches that enable systems become adaptable to climate change thus to consider investing in resilience. This includes integrating risks into business value cycles and investing in prevention and preparedness for hazards beyond the fence lines of business operations.