CAMARINES Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte on Sunday said in three months’ time, a new commission under the supervision of Malacañang shall begin work on upgrading the recycling or reuse of discarded plastic containers and packaging materials, in pursuit of a circular economy or the green model of production and consumption.
He said the National Solid Waste Management Commission is mandated under a congressional proposal that lapsed into law last month, Republic Act No. 11898, to see to it that big producers and their distributors and retailers are responsible for the proper disposal of their waste products after their goods have been sold to and used by consumers.
Villafuerte is the principal author of RA 11898.
He said the NSWMC is being established as both the House of Representatives and the Senate ratified before the sine die adjournment of the 18th Congress the proposed Extended Producer Responsibility Act that amended RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
“RA 11898 institutionalizes the practice of EPR in waste management that imparts on producers, in coordination with their distributors and retailers, the responsibility of properly and effectively disposing of their products after these have been sold to and used by consumers,” he said.
The measure proposes incentives for producers, distributors and retailers that will adopt mechanisms and strategies for the proper and effective management of the wastes generated from the use or consumption of the goods that they produce, distribute or sell to the public.
Under the new law, the NSWMC shall be placed under the Office of the President, and have eight members from the government and five more from the private sector.
“Solving our waste management problem appears to be elusive for the Philippine government despite the enactment of RA 9003. Proper segregation, inefficient collection, improper disposal and inadequate facilities remain unsolved,” Villafuerte said.
