MANILA -The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is crafting a scheme to incentivize large-scale companies that are able to recover their plastic footprint.
“We’ll target it (the promulgation) probably within or after one year because everything is still being set up,” Environment Undersecretary Analiza Rebuelta-Teh told the Inquirer. She was referring to the incentive plan in support of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law.
She said the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue were helping the DENR flesh out the details of a planned circular.
“Under the EPR law, they will have to submit a report on the certain number of waste diverted or retrieved,” she said, adding:
“There’s an existing system in terms of how to accredit their incentive but how do you measure is something that we have to settle with the DOF.”
Biggest challenges
In January this year, the DENR promulgated the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 11898 or the EPR Act. The law requires large-scale companies to manage their plastic packaging waste throughout the life cycle of the product.
In a separate media briefing, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga pointed out that education and behavioral change were the biggest challenges to enforcing the law.
“The biggest challenge is education and changing the behaviors of people. At the end of the day, that’s what will determine the success of the EPR law and it’s not solely on the large producers,” Loyzaga said.
The DENR chief said it was necessary to shape the behavior of the public as early as childhood “because that’s where in fact the biggest influence can actually be made.”
Teh said the DENR was partnering with the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education to educate the public about the law.
“A one-time, big-time information and education campaign is no longer effective. It’s supposed to be more strategic and incorporated into the curriculum of the students,” she added.
A 2021 Science Advances study showed the Philippines was the single, largest contributor to ocean plastic waste at 356,371 tons.
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