Implementing EPR: How can our LGUs take part?

October, 14 2024

The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill lapsed into law in the Philippines in July 2022, effectively requiring big companies to recover a portion of their plastic packaging waste to eliminate unnecessary packaging and adopt more environmentally friendly designs.
The EPR law revised the existing Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 which initially gave the sole responsibility of solid waste management to the local government units (LGUs). The new law does not indicate a specific role for the LGUs in EPR but environment experts believe they must work hand-in-hand with the companies or “obliged enterprises” to incorporate EPR into their solid waste management system. 

On September 12, the Donsol Environmental Management Office held its first EPR forum in partnership with WWF-Philippines to teach the EPR law to different sectors such as small businesses and waste workers associations. The sectors had the opportunity to ask questions and even provide suggestions on how they can work together to implement EPR in their area. 

Why should LGUs be involved?

LGUs are still responsible for managing waste in their locales, but now the EPR law has divided that responsibility with the actual producers of plastic packaging waste, addressing the problem at the source. Apart from alleviating that burden, there are other benefits to EPR for LGUs.

For example, Donsol, a coastal town with a population of over 50,000 residents in coastal and upland communities, spends millions in the collection, segregation and diversion (recycling, composting, storing, etc.) of their waste. Currently, their policies include segregated collection, diversion to waste processing facilities and data monitoring. 

Maliban sa may benepisyo kaming makukuha, naniniwala kami doon sa konsepto na the EPR will unburden the LGU somehow with the expenses,” says Engineer Jean Rose Cadag, Donsol LGU Environmental Management Specialist. 

[Translation: Apart from the benefits we will receive, we believe that the EPR will unburden the LGU somehow with the expenses]

Cadag explains that a big chunk of their budget is allotted to storing and disposing residual waste since some of the waste that ends up on their coasts also flows from nearby towns. Donsol is also a popular tourist spot with a whale shark population that draws thousands of visitors yearly. 

“‘Pag may EPR, sa tingin ko tataas ‘yung recovery kasi syempre magrerecover ng plastik, tataas ‘yung recovery, tataas din ‘yung diversion, babawas ‘yung makakarating sa landfill so kaya siguro babagsak ‘yung allotment namin,” she explains. 

[Translation: If there is EPR, I think the waste recovery and diversion rates will increase because we will recover more plastics and this will reduce the waste entering the landfills, so that’s why I think we will alleviate the allotment of our budget for that]. 

Cadag suggested that the obliged enterprises may also offer to cover a portion of the tipping fees the LGUs pay to waste management facilities. 

How can LGUs be involved in EPR?

The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) of Region V also believes the LGUs have an important role in implementing EPR. 

“‘Yung LGU pwede siyang maging middle man between other sectors para makapagparticipate doon sa EPR program ng private (company)…kasi si LGU din naman ‘yung may kakayahan para financially, technically, para matulungan ‘yung sector na ‘yun na i-connect sa PROs, sa obliged enterprises,” says Carlo Lorenzana, Senior Environmental Management Specialist of EMB Region V, who spoke at the forum. 

[Translation: The LGU can serve as the middle man in encouraging other sectors to participate in the EPR program of the private company…Because it is the LGU that has the financial and technical ability to assist the sectors in connecting with Producer Responsibility Organizations and obliged enterprises]

Among the opportunities the EMB identified is integrating and formalizing informal waste workers into the EPR system and providing incentives. The LGUs can collaborate with the private companies to incentivize the waste collectors and aggregators to formally collect waste, and the data from the collections will be part of the EPR monitoring scheme. 

During the forum, the participants from the different sectors were divided into groups to come up with their own EPR program suggestions, one of which was to provide rice grains as incentives in exchange for collected plastic waste. 

Sa pamamagitan ng EPR, ay [maiiwasan] sa pag-iipon nito (plastik) sa mga landfill at binabawas ang paglabas ng greenhouse gas. Sa pamamagitan ng pag-iwas sa landfill at pagtataguyod ng pag-recycle, nababawasan ang polusyon sa lupa, tubig at hangin,” one of the groups said in their presentation after their discussion. 

[Translation: Through EPR, we can avoid the accumulation of plastic waste in landfills which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By reducing waste in landfills and recycling them, we can reduce pollution in the lands, seas and air.] 

WWF-Philippines believes there is a need to involve and integrate multiple sectors, apart from obliged enterprises, such as the LGU, civil society organizations and non-government organizations, businesses, the informal waste sector including the informal waste pickers and junk shops into the EPR scheme. Through EPR forums, the sectors are able to discuss their plastic waste concerns and raise suggestions on the implementation that would benefit and address the gaps in the solid waste management system. 

Through proper implementation of the EPR program that involves and benefits multiple sectors, a circular economy is possible where materials are designed to be reused so no plastics end up in nature.

“This integrated approach would ensure that all of the stakeholders’ institutional or group weaknesses would be filled in by the strengths of the other sectors in Donsol. In time, this approach would prove helpful in advancing a community based approach to resolving waste management issues and other environmental concerns,” says Michaely Anthony Santos, Program Manager of WWF-Philippines’ EPR program. 

The Donsol Environmental Management Office conducted its first EPR forum in partnership with WWF-Philippines.
© WWF-Philippines/Janine Peralta
Engr. Jean Rose Cadag of the Donsol local government discusses how EPR can benefit the town and its residents.
© WWF-Philippines/Janine Peralta
Representatives of different sectors such as small businesses and waste workers discuss how the EPR system can be implemented in Donsol and how it will benefit them.
© WWF-Philippines/Janine Peralta
The forum’s participants present their input on why EPR can benefit Donsol.
© WWF-Philippines/Janine Peralta