Villar pushes for extended producer responsibility on wastes

Senator Cynthia Villar on Thursday cited the need to find the strategic interventions to drastically redeem what would have been valuable materials from the waste stream.

The chair of the Senate committee on environment, natural resources and climate change has sponsored Senate Bill 2425, under Committee Report 328 which refers to “An Act Institutionalizing the Practice of Extended Producer Responsibility in Plastic Packaging Waste.”

The bill would amend Republic Act 9003, otherwise known as the “Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.”

“This measure seeks to incentivize innovation, motivate producers to take charge of the life cycle of their products, clearly defines responsibilities and mandates and allows for better citizen participation in reaching objectives and goals,” stressed Villar.

If done properly, she said that Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is also an opportunity, an open door to a thriving industry that pushes us into a circular economy where materials cycle through lives and less land is lost to dumping and waste storage.

“We need to rescue our country from the ill repute of being a marine litter culprit and demonstrate that a developing country can and will make this work,” Villar said.

Without an EPR System, she said back trips of trucks and ferries will not care to carry discards for reuse, recycling or processing.

Although those that make the products that become discards in very short spans of time have always had the ethical responsibility, Villar said they do not have the legal responsibility to ensure the recyclability and upscalability of their products and packaging.

“The pandemic has both complicated and multiplied this problem tenfold. Hence, this Chamber has the duty to act decisively and effectively to pass a law that would have a high rate of compliance,” said Villar.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)