DENR: So far, less than 800 firms logged plastic waste management plans

FILE PHOTO: The Philippines produces 2.15 million tons of plastic waste yearly, mostly single-use items like sachets. Over a third of the plastics leak into the open environment like this trash hill in San Juan City. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — Less than 800 of 1,000 “obliged enterprises” have already registered their extended producer responsibility (EPR) plans this year, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Undersecretary Jonas Leones said.

Under Republic Act No. 11898, or the EPR Act of 2022, enterprises must register their plastic waste management programs with the National Solid Waste Management Commission. Obliged enterprises are companies with total assets of more than P100 million.

It also ordered industries to collect 20 percent of their total plastic packaging footprint.

“Gumaganda naman ‘yung compliance natin, nagreregister na sila sa atin. Bagamat ang nasa listahan ng DTI [Department of Trade and Industry] ay 4,000 industries ang kailangan mag comply…itong 4,000 na ito ay kailangan pa natin i-filter,” Leones said during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing on Tuesday.

(Our compliance is improving. They are registering with us. Although the DTI list has 4,000 industries that must comply, we must filter them.)

READ: DENR says only 17 percent of PH companies complying with law on plastics

“Ngayong taon na ito ang target sana natin ay 1,000 compliance, sa ngayon nandito tayo sa kulang-kulang 800,” he added.

READ: Punish violators of plastic waste law

(This year, our target would be 1,000 compliances; so far, we are at less than 800.)

But Leones said some enterprises face challenges in complying with the EPR, citing the lack of technological resources for recycling and upcycling, among others,

Nevertheless, the DENR official encouraged obliged enterprises to register their EPR plans to avoid penalties.