Amendment of RA 9003 (Solid Waste Management Act of
2000 and law on single-use plastics among the legislative priorities for 2021
Senator Cynthia Villar, chairperson
of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, said that while
long-delayed, the turnover of solid waste management (SWM) equipment to local
government units (LGUs) will really help in attaining zero waste targets of
cities and municipalities.
“The
distribution of the equipment is long overdue because the budget for it has
been made available since 2017 but is only last month when the turnover
started. It needs to be fast-tracked because the country’s waste problems even
worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic, when healthcare-related wastes such as
face masks added to the pile of garbage we have to deal with,” cited Villar.
The whole country, according to
estimates from environmental groups, generates over 40,000 tons of garbage per
day. The composting equipment being distributed by the Environmental Management
Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR-EMB),
according to Villar, will allow LGUs to manage their wastes.
Coincidentally, 2021 is the 20th
Anniversary of the signing into law of Republic Act (RA) 9003, or the
Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. Villar has filed a bill to that
will amend the law by institutionalizing the practice of Extended Producers
Responsibility (EPR). It will mandate companies especially in industries that
generate plastic wastes to be responsible “for the proper and effective
disposal of their products after they have been sold to and used by consumers
with the objectives of reducing waste generation and of improving recyclability
or reusability of wastes, which include plastic containers or packaging
materials”.
Villar’s Senate committee also
intend to pass a law against single-use plastics. One of the bills that will be
consolidated with other bills is Senate Bill No. 333 or the Single-Use Plastic
Product Regulation Act of 2019 that she authored. It seeks to regulate the
manufacturing, importation, and “single use” of plastic products.
Moreover, Villar is also asking
DENR-EMB to fasttrack also the procurement of the 25 units of equipment that
will recycle plastic wastes into school chairs, which will be given to LGUs
also. Plastic make up a significant amount of solid wastes and one of the most
damaging to the environment.
“The ultimate goal of our solid
waste management efforts and legislations is zero waste and we have to give the
people and the LGUs the capability and capacity to really manage their own
wastes. We have to get really serious about achieving zero waste,” said Villar.
The month of January is also known as Zero Waste Month, as mandated by
Presidential Proclamation no. 760, dated May 5, 2014. The theme of this year’s
celebration is “Bouncing Back from the Pandemic to a Greener and Healthier
Environment”. Zero waste is an advocacy that promotes the designing and
managing of products and processes to avoid and eliminate the volume and
toxicity of waste and materials.
The senator also practices what she
preaches. She has established barangay-based livelihood enterprises that are
models of proper waste management and good examples of how garbage or wastes
can be used as raw materials. These are water hyacinths for the waterlily
handicraft-weaving enterprise and the handmade paper factory; coconut husks for
the coconet-weaving enterprise and the charcoal-making factory; kitchen and
garden wastes for the organic fertilizer composting facility; and plastic
wastes for the waste plastic recycling factory that produces school chairs. So
far, there are over 3,000 of those projects nationwide, which help solve the
problem of wastes and provide a source of livelihood, too. ###
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