October, 29 2024

WWF-Philippines conducted a wide-scale EPR forum from September 26 to 27 with LGUs across the country: Davao City, San Isidro Municipality in Davao Oriental, Island Garden City of Samal, Cagayan De Oro City, Barangay Bagong Silang in Caloocan City, Taytay Municipality in Palawan, Quezon City, Manila City and Barangays Del Carmen and General Luna from Siargao Island. 

“The aim of the forum was to empower the LGUs who are displaced in the EPR implementation through understanding their local context and the possible strategic steps that they can make if they decide to become EPR local diverters,” says Michael Anthony Santos, WWF-Philippines’ EPR Program Manager. 

The forum tackled an assessment of capacities needed for the LGUs to effectively implement EPR into their solid waste management systems, based on the Rapid Self-Assessment Tool on EPR Readiness for LGUs by the government. 

The tool asks questions on whether or not the LGUs have:

• A functioning segregation and segregated collection system
• Programs and facilities that avoid/reuse, recover/consolidate and/or recycle rigid plastic packaging and the same for flexible plastic packaging
• A data management/recording system for waste diversion 

Under these questions are options of whether they have fully functional, selected or minimal to negligible segregation, collection and data management systems, as well as if their recycling facilities or systems cover less than 10%, 10 to 50% or more than 50% of total rigid and flexible plastic waste generated by weight. 

The tool also asks how much is their total avoided and recovered plastic packaging per month and if the LGU is committed to enhance plastic waste diversion and data management to participate in the EPR system. A ranking system based on the LGUs’ average scores determines whether they have high, partial (needs work on diversion approaches and data management) or low EPR readiness (needs a lot of work on diversion approaches and data management). 

“The deeper aim of the planning forum was to give them a picture of the lost opportunities due to the status quo practice of the EPR operators and give them a taste of how they can advocate for their LGUs’ vital position as a main player in EPR operations,” adds Santos. 

During the forum, there was a divide among the LGUs’ capacities to participate in EPR, with some more equipped than others. 

For example, Cagayan De Oro City reported that their data monitoring system paired with waste analysis studies found that their generated plastic waste dropped from 0.76 kilograms per day per person in 2014 to 0.42 kilograms currently. They also factor in waste types, which is why despite the lower rate of generated waste, they were able to spot a 10% increase in generated recyclable waste. 

Samal City also said they recover 10 to 50% of total rigid plastic waste generated on the island owing to their partnerships with WWF-Philippines and the Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines, Inc. Last year, they recovered around 40 tons of PET bottles. But the challenge that remains is their lack of recycling centers on the island. They have to spend on ferry boats and fuel to transport the waste to facilities in Davao City. 

“Kahit malaki ‘yung diversion [Though we have a big diversion rate] for PET bottles, it is just one of the many plastics on the island. Marami pang plastics kailangan i-divert [We still have plenty of plastic to divert]. Thankfully we have started. Little by little,” says Engineer Kim Garciano, Environmental Management Specialist for Samal City.
 
Despite the varying levels of readiness among the participants, WWF-Philippines continued to assess the LGUs’ commitments and available capacities through a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. 

From there, the LGUs were able to build a foundation for EPR readiness that was not necessarily identified in the assessment tool. For example, the Municipality of Taytay, Palawan, has low recovery recycling rates because of low interest in buying from junk shops and it does not generate as much plastic waste as other urbanized areas. However, it has an effective collection system even with a small staff of 40 in its environment office, including seven collectors and four trucks. Their collection sites include eight island barangays accessible by boat. 

“Considering all the situations namin compared to others, sabi namin dedicated ang aming staff kasi hands-on kami…Sabi nga sensitive kami ‘pag dating sa waste and we work,” says Joji Laurente, Department Head of the Office of the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer of Taytay.

[Translation: Considering our situation compared to others, we observed that we have a dedicated staff because we are hands-on…We are sensitive when it comes to waste and we work]

He adds that “The point for us is as long as we can ensure the public that all those plastics, all those non-biodegradables, will not eventually reach the marine areas okay na sa amin ‘yun [then that is okay with us].”

Meanwhile, Barangay Bagong Silang in Caloocan City, referred to as the biggest barangay in the country with a population of more or less 300,000, also identified their strength as the host of the first community-run electronic waste disposal facility. 

“Somehow we relate more on the plastics EPR but more on the special waste. We cater to plastic casings to old tvs. Ito ‘yung may kumpleto kaming data [We have complete data on this]…We have the technology; we have the training from the DENR to operate the facility,” says Dante Amarando Lista, Chief of Barangay Bagong Silang’s Environmental Management and Protection Office.

There were also sessions on Threats, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Strengths (TOWS) analysis and strategic thinking. For opportunities, some LGUs brought up that their 10-year solid waste management plans were expiring which means they can start incorporating EPR into their renewed plans. 

“We are formulating right now the new ten-year plan. While integrating the strategies sa bagong plan namin, kailangan talaga clear kung ano ba talaga ‘yung EPR plan namin kasi ‘yun ang basis for the plastic waste reduction strategies namin,” says Elvisa Mabelin, Assistant Department Head of CDO’s City Local Environment and Natural Resources Office. 

[Translation: We are formulating right now the new ten-year plan. While integrating the strategies into our new plan, we needed to determine what our plan is for the EPR law because that will be the basis for our plastic waste reduction strategies]