On August 24 and 26, 2021, the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, INC. (PCEPSDI), through its Sustainable Packaging Towards Marine Litter Reduction Project, held a Roundtable Discussion on the Solid Waste Management and Promotion of Sustainable Packaging in Iloilo and Bacolod City. The discussion aims to bring about the existing policies of the national and local government of Iloilo and Bacolod City, to determine the challenges, gaps, opportunities, and priorities on the packaging and solid waste management in the locality, and to involve the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB), the local government unit of Iloilo and Bacolod City and other relevant stakeholders in the wide-ranging discussion.
Ms. Kim Castillo, the Project Assistant of the Sustainable Packaging under Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI), delivers the Sustainable Consumption and Production Tools and Practices towards Policy Improvement on Waste Management for the Reduction of Marine Litter. Ms. Castillo’s presentation emphasized the main projects of PCEPSDI to enlighten the consciousness of the different private and public sectors regarding the goal of the company
She stressed out that shifting from Linear Economy to Circular Economy is a key solution to marine litter. With that, the project aims to develop eco labelling criteria and certify products for sustainable packaging, establish a private sector roadmap to instruct strategic plans, propose solutions and recognize stakeholders that can be involved towards the implementation of shifting to more sustainable packaging and to promote sustainable packaging through environmental education campaigns.
Aside from that, Ms. Castillo also underlined other main projects of PCEPSDI such as the Development of Voluntary Guidelines on Sustainable Packaging Towards Reduction of Marine litter and Promoting Packaging from Alternative Materials through Market-based Approach, the Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), the Ecolabelling, Green Procurement, and the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). To promote and advocate the projects of PCEPSDI, regular seminars on ecolabelling and SCP Practices, Sectoral Sustainability initiatives, Pilot projects, and Kalikasan GP3 Expo-Conference are being able to exercise.
To present the National Policies on Packaging and Solid Waste Management, Mr. Jepp Farrales of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) highlighted the Republic Act No. 9003 or The Ecological Waste Management Act of 2000 and the sections it encompasses. Under the provisions of RA 7160 known as the Local Government Code, the Local Government Unit is the main responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the obligations of the RA 9003 within their respective districts. The city or the municipality level is accountable for the collection of non-recyclable waste while biodegradable, compostable, and reusable waste are under the provision of the barangay unit. Mr. Faralles stressed that the major problem with solid waste management is not the system but the behavior of the people.
To inform the participants, he gave a brief enlightening presentation on the different types of waste that we generate in normal activities. Compostable waste refers to biodegradable waste consist of food, garden, and animal waste; Recyclable waste pertains to materials retrieved from the waste stream and is free from contamination that can still be transformed into appropriate beneficial use; Special waste refers to household waste which poses potential hazards such as paints, batteries, thinner, etc.; and the waste that is non-compostable and non-recyclable like sanitary napkins and diapers defines Residual waste.
The participants were given a chance to raise issues in their respective cities during the roundtable discussion in where both private and public are can address the issues present in the city
The Roundtable Discussion was warmly ended by Ms. Erica Nicole D. Gomez, Project Officer of Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI), by delivering the overall synthesis of the Roundtable Discussion. Ms. Gomez insisted that there is a need to have a collective action with government, policymakers, non-government organizations, businesses, and consumers to have a significant advancement in the Solid Waste Management System.
She assured that every perspective will be incorporated with the future project of PCEPSDI, and the information gathered will contribute to the formulation of the Policy Recommendation Guidelines of the project. She promised that every concept, information, and knowledge shared by the participants would be respected and considered in future action steps since this will be beneficial as it will become a basis for the Policy Dialogue that the PCEPSDI will conduct with policymakers and experts.
Author: Engr. Augusto Luis Labos
