BY CRIS DIAZ, Executive Editor
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY: A bill mandating manufacturers to adopt policies to recover and recycle plastic products lapsed into law on July 22, 2022, Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, said Monday.
Rodriguez, one of the authors of the law, said that Republic Act 11989 mandates companies to establish Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) programs in the recovery, recycling, cleanup, and transportation of plastic waste for disposal.
Under the law manufacturers are required to monitor their annual plastic packaging footprints and production with an intent to recover 20 percent plastic wastes by the end of 2023.
“The recovery target rises each year until by 2028 the companies are able to achieve 80% recovery of the plastic they produced, ” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez was optimistic that with the EPR law, manufacturers would take note of the reusability, retrievability and recyclability of the plastic products.
According to the World Wide Fund Nature, in Asia, the Philippines is the world’s third-largest polluter with around 2.7 million metric tons of plastic trash generated each year, only next to Indonesia and China. -0-
