THE chief of the Ecological Solid Waste Management Section of the Environment Management Bureau Davao Region (EMB-11) said that all producers of goods have the responsibility for the entire life cycle of their plastic products.
ESWM-EMB 11 head Jay Christopher Bawiin said that industry players must make sure that their products are flexible in terms of packaging and can be extended to other uses.
Industry players were invited to a recent forum held at the Waterfront Insular Hotel in Davao to ensure that all follow the Republic Act 111898 or the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022.
Bawiin said shared responsibility here means all producers of goods must see that their products must be adaptive with nature, where they must be open to the possibility that their product, which makes up a plastic packaging, may turn to carton as a packaging.
He observed that now, the private sector has been involved with the introduction of the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022.
“It has ushered in a new era by expanding the responsibility of managing plastic waste, so in the future, it will cover beyond plastic waste,” he said.
Bawiin said the private sector is called to co-invest through sustainable systems with the local government units and help achieve national targets for solid waste management consideration.
“Producers will be required to divert their waste. Meaning if they produce plastic packaging, they are liable and responsible for their product through the life-cycle,” he said.
Bawiin said those who cannot comply are subject to a penalty, which is a minimum fine.
He said the first thing that private producers do is to partner with the recyclers or the local government units, which handle the waste collection, especially if one is a manufacturer of coffee.
“These wastes will now be a part of the resources for the recycling industry, and private producers will coordinate now with the local government unit, because the wastes will now fall part of the products for the recycling industry players,” Bawiin said.
He cited as an example one coffee manufacturer who produces one hundred tons of coffee.
“Within one year, it is a must that a coffee industry manufacturer can dump fifty percent or fifty tons of waste to the LGU landfill,” Bawiin said.
He said that before the EPR Law was passed, a local producer could be cited only for the pollution of water and air due to the use of this product.
“Under the EPR Law, local producers are liable even during the end of the life cycle of the product,” Bawiin said.
