Long one of the world’s top sources of ocean plastic, the Philippines is hoping new legislation requiring big companies to pay for waste solutions will help clean up its act.
They are obliged to cover an initial 20 percent of their plastic packaging footprint, calculated based on the weight of plastic packaging they put into the market.The law covers a broad range of plastics, including flexible types that are commercially unviable for recycling and thus often go uncollected.
That topped the 2023 target and is “part of a broader strategy to reduce the environmental impact of plastic pollution, particularly given the Philippines’ status as one of the largest contributors to marine plastic waste globally”. PCX Solutions, one of the country’s biggest players, offers local credits priced around $100 for collection and co-processing of mixed plastics to over $500 for collection and recycling of ocean-bound PET plastic.
Friends of Hope managing director Ilusion Farias said the project was making a visible difference to an area often strewn with discarded plastic.“Behavioral change is really slow, and it takes a really long time.” But while companies have lined up to buy plastic credits, there has been less movement on stemming the flow of new plastic, including through redesign.“There is no procurement department in the world that accepts a 20 percent higher packaging price just because it’s the right thing to do.”