WWF-Philippines continues to push for Extended Producers Responsibility Scheme

An Extended Producers Responsibility roadmap was released by conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines (WWF-Philippines) on Thursday, highlighting the substantial impact of plastics in our environment and how adopting the EPR scheme can effectively change this worsening plastic problem. 

The updated report entitled “Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Scheme Assessment for Plastic Packaging Waste in the Philippines”, WWF-Philippines proposes an EPR scheme where the responsibility of implementing the scheme for building high-quality recycling capacity should be assumed by an industry-led, non-profit Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), acting as the system operator, with strict monitoring and control systems carried out by the government.

5 Tips for Businesses to Achieve a Plastic Pollution-Free Christmas

Plastic pollution in the Philippines has already reached an alarming rate and continues to be one of the top environmental challenges for the country and the rest of the globe.

According to a report released by WWF-Philippines in 2020, Filipinos consume a yearly average of 20kg of plastics, from which 15.43kg/cap/year becomes waste. Insufficient recycling capacities for high value recyclables (i.e. PET, PP, HDPE) and the high volume of low value plastics (including sachets) are some factors that affect the country’s low plastic recycling rate, at 9%. The report further estimates that the Philippines leaks about 35% of plastic wastes into the environment.

With the economy slowly opening, WWF-Philippines encourages businesses to integrate plastic pollution-free practices to fight plastic pollution. Here are some useful tips for business owners on how they can participate in creating a plastic pollution-free Christmas this 2021.

Businesses commit to more sustainable paths forward post-pandemic

With the continuing battle against plastic pollution in the country, Philippine business leaders highlight their initiatives and show support for the Extended Producer Responsibility.  

Extended Producer Responsibility or EPR is an environmental policy approach introduced in the 1990s for accelerating the transition to sustainable waste management and a circular economy and more and more businesses worldwide are on board. 

EPR relies on two factors - improvement of product design and recyclability and improvement of waste management systems - and businesses here in the Philippines have stepped up to the challenge, taking sustainability seriously, by working on both upstream and downstream measures to address the plastic crisis. 

Coca-Cola Philippines is continuously moving forward with its “World Without Waste” campaign, a global effort of the Coca-Cola Company that aims to successfully recycle used bottles to new ones. In the Philippines, Coca-Cola’s one-billion-peso recycling facility is already nearing completion with a target to be open this year.