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“The main challenge right now is that the guidelines for implementation are still in flux,” Elvin Yu, PBSP executive director, told the PCIJ. Crispin Lao, executive director of the Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability , observed that some companies remained confused about the kind of EPR programs to adopt and the kind of benefits to avail of.
As of July, only 662 of around 4,000 enterprises registered with the Department of Trade and Industry had submitted to the National Solid Waste Management Commission their programs for the proper management of their plastic wastes. The industry’s slow compliance has prompted the DENR to implement the EPR law in mostly urban areas, such as Metro Manila in Luzon, Cebu in Visayas, and Davao in Mindanao in 2023. These areas, after all, would have the most available facilities for waste processing. For environmental groups, the industry’s lukewarm reception reveals gaps in the new law.
“Under this law, as long as you are collecting waste, whatever you do, whether you burn it in cement kilns, or recycle, you are compliant…. The law allows them to operate business as usual,” Aliño said.Salamat said she and her colleagues were “shocked” by the speed of the deliberations. It was “quick” in comparison with other environmental laws, he said.