Register waste system programs, says DENR

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Sunday reiterated its call for all covered companies to register under the Extended Producer Responsibility program in compliance with Republic Act 11898, or the EPR Act of 2022.

The law mandates that covered firms, called Obliged Enterprises, register their EPR programs with the DENR-led National Solid Waste Management Commission.

Obliged Enterprises are defined as companies with total assets exceeding P100 million. They can opt to have their own programs, work as a Collective, or be part of a Producer Responsibility Organization.

As of September 2023, 709 enterprises have taken the critical step of submitting their EPR plans which are designed to effectively manage plastic waste by eliminating unnecessary plastic packaging of products, developing more environmentally-friendly and recyclable packaging, and recovering waste plastic packaging.

Based on data from the Department of Trade and Industry, however, there are an estimated 4,000 large enterprises in the Philippines.

"Since EPR programs might be relatively new to many companies, we expect that more enterprises will submit their programs once they better understand how to operationalize modes of implementation into their businesses," DENR Undersecretary for Policy, Planning and International Affairs Jonas Leones said.

The EPR law specifies that Obliged Enterprises recover 20 percent of their generated plastic product footprint by the end of 2023 with incremental targets for fulfillment each year, until 80 percent is reached by 2028.