City Councilor Jennifer Del Mar, business group and other government agencies discuss the EPR Law during a consultative meeting on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 in Mandaue City. | Mary Rose Sagarino
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines — The Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has welcomed the plan of Mandaue City to adopt the Expanded Producer Responsibility (EPR) Law, which requires big manufacturing companies to collect their products.
MCCI President Kelie Ko said that they already expected the possible adoption of the law after it was passed in 2022 since Mandaue City had been very proactive.
Ko said that they were just thankful to Mandaue for consulting them and trying to find ways that it would not be difficult for businesses.
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MCCI partners with local gov’t
“Partners gyud mi no (We are partners) (city government) again this is a national law there is no way of avoiding it, better come up with workable solutions rather than mangaway ta (we fight over it),” said Ko.
The MCCI president said that the implementation would also help them to be more responsible in recovering their waste. Mandaue having waste diversion would also help, he said.
However, he admitted that implementing the law would add cost to them since they would need more personnel who would prepare for the reports among others.
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Consultative meeting on EPR Law
The concern was one of the things that were discussed during the consultative meeting conducted on Tuesday, Sept. 26 that was attended by MCCI officials, representatives of big manufacturing companies, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Mandaue City Environment and Natural Resources Office (MCENRO) and City Councilor Jennifer Del Mar, chairperson of the Committee on Environment who would be drafting the propose ordinance.
Del Mar said that they would probably provide incentives to the companies.
“Naa, naa man sad sa law, entitled sila for that if mo-follow sila sa kato nga law, so naa silay incentives kuhaon ngadto sa percentage sa ila’ng like 20 percent ba ron ang ila’ng kinahanglan icomply, tax relief siguro, discount and part of their corporate responsibility,” said Del Mar.
(It is in the law, that they are entitled for that if they will follow that law, so they have incentives that they can get from the percentage, their percentage, like 20 percent perhaps of what they were required to comply, tax relief, perhaps, discount and part of their corporate responsibility.)
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Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act
Under Republic Act 11898, or the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022, companies are required to be responsible for the proper and effective recovery, treatment, recycling or disposal of their products after they have been sold and used by consumers” to reduce the volume of plastic wastes generation.
MCENRO Head Architect Aracelli Barlam, said that manufacturing companies would not really need to only recover their products but at least can be able to recover a certain percentage of their total plastic waste.
Barlam said that large-scale enterprises in Mandaue City are expected to register their EPR program with the National Ecology Center before the year ends.
Del Mar said that she would target to submit the proposed ordinance to the city council within this year.
Mandaue City might be the first local government unit to adopt the EPR law, she said.