Expressing strong commitment to curb plastic pollution, the Marcos administration is stepping up efforts by enforcing plastic recovery obligations of large companies, including issuing show-cause letters to firms that may be failing to comply with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act, a Palace official recently said.

During a visit to a Pasay City pumping station last week, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. cited the garbage problem as a contributor to clogging at pumping stations.

In a Palace press briefing, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro read a statement from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) saying, “The DENR is actively monitors major companies’ compliance with the EPR Law by means of auditing their recovery rates.”

“DENR has already issued 155 show-cause letters to potential obliged enterprises who are not compliant with their EPR obligations,” Castro added, noting the EPR Act serves as a carrot-and-stick mechanism to producers for the recovery and recycling of their plastic packaging wastes.

The EPR Act, or Republic Act 11898, requires large enterprises in the Philippines to recover and divert a growing percentage of their plastic packaging waste.

The law amended the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.

Enacted to curb plastic pollution, it mandates audited annual recovery targets managed through individual programs or collective organizations.

Records show companies comply with and even surpass set targets, said Castro, citing a 2024 record showing audited recovery rates reached 59.98 percent for rigid plastics and 56.33 percent for flexible plastics, which is high relative to the legal target of 40 percent.

For 2024, the target plastic use is 40 percent; 60 percent for 2026; and 80 percent for 2028, Castro said, warning that non-compliant entities will be penalized.

“Companies who are not compliant with the EPR Law face a multi-million-peso fine,” she added.