The Extended Producers’ Responsibility (EPR) Act has already lapsed into law, Senator Cynthia Villar reported.

During the plenary session Tuesday, July 26, Villar, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change, said the EPR Law would now mandate large corporations to process their plastic waste, which, in the first place, is their responsibility.

Villar shepherded the passage of the measure along with her counterpart in the House of Representatives, Rep. Glona Labadlabad.

EPR is an approach to waste reduction that seeks to lodge environmental responsibility to the producer throughout the lifecycle of a product, she pointed out.

With the implementation of the EPR Law, Villar expressed confidence that the Philippines would no longer be tagged as one of the largest plastic litterers in the world.

She urged the public and especially the organizations fighting for better solid waste management to look at the development as an opportunity.

“It is a good start,’’ Villar said.

The law introduces the concept of EPR and a circular economy and mandates the DENR to formulate a national framework on EPR for all types of wastes. It mandates targets on the recovery of plastic wastes initially and requires large enterprises or those above micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) levels to set up an EPR program within six months from the effectivity of the act.

These programs are intended to achieve plastic neutrality through efficient management of plastic packaging waste, reduced production, importation supply or use of plastic packaging deemed low in reusability, retrievability or recyclability. It sets rising targets for plastic recovery each year until 2028 when these enterprises are expected to achieve 80 percent neutrality.

It also activates the National Ecology Center, created under Republic Act (RA) 9003 and mandates it to assess the volume of other generated wastes for inclusion in the EPR scheme.

“We had to limit the EPR to plastic packaging and to large enterprises for now, which could be viewed as compromises, to be sure” Villar said, “but then, it is important to note that the law also requires an EPR framework and an assessment of volumes of other generated wastes that will allow the expansion of the scheme to include wastes with the most problematic components or volumes.”

Villar expressed confidence that a convergence of initiatives among these mandated large enterprises, medium, and small scale producers voluntarily joining the program, and households and families who earnestly make an effort to reduce their wastes, will make a difference.

“All over the country, the current and near future landfill capacity will not be able to accommodate the expected waste generated. Waste recovery in an archipelago is no small matter and will not be cheap. It is time to place the responsibility of retrieving these wastes in the hands of the producers while still calling on the citizenry to do the appropriate thing and reduce, reuse, segregate, recycle and compost.” she added.