Green Choice for Green Products: An Awareness Seminar on the National Ecolabelling Programme – Green Choice Philippines

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The “Development of Voluntary Guidelines on Sustainable Packaging Towards Reduction of Marine Litter and Promoting Packaging from Alternative Materials Through Market Based Approach” project implemented by the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI), also dubbed as the “Sustainable Packaging toward Marine Litter Reduction” aims to reduce marine litter by promoting packaging for reuse and from alternative materials using market-based instruments. This project is in partnership with the ‘Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter’ project of the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). ‘Rethinking Plastics‘ is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Expertise France. Due to the growing global concern for environmental protection, market demand for “green” products shows significant increase as producers, retailers, governments and consumers seek to expand their sustainable production and green purchasing. However, along with the increased awareness and rising demand on environmentally friendly products is the increasing concern on “greenwashing”. Thus, PCEPSDI administers the National Ecolabelling Programme – Green Choice Philippines (NELP-GCP), a voluntary, Type 1 ecolabelling program following the guidelines of ISO 14024. NELP-GCP provides criteria for environmentally sound and preferable products and services through life cycle consideration. Its mission is to guide the Filipino society in choosing which products and services being produced and distributed in the country pose the minimum risks to environmental health and welfare; while envisioning that environmentally preferable products are being produced and distributed all throughout the country. This seminar is an opportunity for businesses and other stakeholders to understand ecolabelling, a viable solution for promoting sustainable choices. As a company, SM seeks to make sustainable choices accessible to every Filipino, but this is a big challenge. Because of this, SM reaches out to many partners, one of which is PCEPSDI, to further advance sustainability. SM partners with PCEPSDI and the NELP-GCP, through its hotels, malls, and retail segments, to step up its sustainability initiatives, and helps out its suppliers in the journey towards becoming green. The seminar was started by a welcome message from Ms. Marimar “Mai” Baitculon, AVP of the SM group Sustainability office from SM Investments Corporation. Followed by the introduction of DTI’s programs on sustainable consumption and production (SCP), and its other initiatives for consumer protection by Atty. Ann Cabochan. The recently accomplished toolkit is a DTI-led project proponent in cooperation with ACCP ASEAN Secretariat, funded under the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) 2.0 and managed by the Competition, Consumer Protection and Intellectual Property Rights Division (CCPID) of the ASEAN Secretariat together with DTI. Atty. Ann Cabochan emphasizes the promotion of its consumer advocacy on Sustainable Consumption and Production together with the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development INC. through its flagship programme which is the National Ecolabelling Programme – Green Choice Philippines by picking products and services that are certified green. To provide the fundamentals of ecolabelling in the Philippines, Ms. Grace Lebria presented the different types of environmental performance labelling, NELP-GCP main activities, and its milestones. Ms. Lebria also mentioned that the ISO 14020 series was developed to avoid misleading labels. There are three types of labels, namely: (1) Type I which establishes criteria based on the product/service lifecycle, applied for third-party verification; (2) Type II for self-declared environmental claims; (3) Type III for specific aspects of products using a life-cycle approach which defines a reporting format for quantifiable life cycle data. To provide the fundamentals of ecolabelling in the Philippines, Ms. Grace Lebria presented the different types of environmental performance labelling, NELP-GCP main activities, and its milestones. Ms. Lebria also mentioned that the ISO 14020 series was developed to avoid misleading labels. There are three types of labels, namely: (1) Type I which establishes criteria based on the product/service lifecycle, applied for third-party verification; (2) Type II for self-declared environmental claims; (3) Type III for specific aspects of products using a life-cycle approach which defines a reporting format for quantifiable life cycle data. The seminar was then ended by testimonials by NELP-GCP certified products.

Roundtable Discussion on the Solid Waste Management and Promotion of Sustainable Packaging in Iloilo and Bacolod City

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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

Mapping Out the Challenges and Impacts to Sustainable Packaging

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The Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, INC. (PCEPSDI), through its Sustainable Packaging Towards Marine Litter Reduction Project, held a Training Webinar entitled “Development of a Private Sector Roadmap for Sustainable Packaging Workshop 1: Mapping Out the Challenges and Impacts to Sustainable Packaging” on August 4, 2021. The webinar aims for different private and public sectors in the Philippines to develop their roadmap for sustainable packaging, to raise consciousness for the importance of monitoring the sustainability impact of sustainable packaging, to be aware of the socio-environmental impacts of the packaging industry, urging global efforts for circular economy against marine litter, highlight the importance of waste management system and introduce the working draft of the packaging value chain. During the webinar proper, Mr. Alvaro Zurita, the project team leader of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ Philippines), provided the Opening Remarks by asking, “where does waste come from?”. The consumer has a significant role in contributing to marine litter, and they have a big responsibility to alter their bad practice. He also said that sustainable waste management is a simple way to commence, but a person’s physical and mental aspects must arrive together to execute it. Two years ago, Mr. Zurita initiated a circular economy solution towards marine litter reduction with the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan as partner countries in response to this problem. As the first speaker, Ms. Paulith Ann Aguilar, the Research Assistant of Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI), provides the introduction of PCEPSDI, the National Ecolabelling Programme – Green Choice Philippines (NELP-GCP), and the Sustainable Packaging Project. This project aims to urge people to alter their behavioral patterns in consumption and production that may consequently precede the degradation of our environment through implementing principles of sustainable development.  Ms. Aguilar also highlights the Development of Voluntary Guidelines on Sustainable Packaging Towards Reduction of Marine litter and Promoting Packaging from Alternative Materials through Market-based Approach which aims to develop ecolabelling criteria and certify products for sustainable packaging, establish a private sector roadmap and promote sustainable packaging through an environmental education campaign. The Project Consultant of Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI), Mr. Kiko E. Velhagen headed the draft Value Chain for Packaging. The draft was consisting of three major concepts, the value chain; which is the sequence of activities or parties that provide or receive value in the form of products and services, environmental hotspot; is a process or activity which accounts for a significant proportion of the environmental impact in the value chain and the systematic solution which is a strategic theme for a group of actions and interventions with the same overarching goal. The overall aim of this project is to provide guidelines on sustainable packaging towards reducing marine litter.  One of the critical outputs of the Sustainable Packaging Project is to develop a Market Readiness Study that can distinguish the challenges and opportunities of sustainable packaging. As another Project Consultant of the Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI), Dr. Maria Angela Zafra enlightened the participants concerning the Socio-environmental Impacts of the Packaging Industry. She features the Market Readiness Study, which aims to introduce the seven types of alternative packaging such as Biodegradable, Bio-based, Wood, and Paper-based on the sustainably managed forest, Compostable, Recyclable, Reusable, long-lasting, and with recycled content. Aside from that, Dr. Zafra told the participants concerning the opportunities and obstacles of the consumers in switching to sustainable packaging. The webinar training was enthusiastically ended by Ms. Andrea Janelle D. Go, Project Assistant of Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, Inc. (PCEPSDI), by delivering the overall summary of the Roadmap Development Workshop Training. She wished the participants to have a meaningful and worthwhile discussion during this workshop. She assured that every idea, concept, and information shared by all participants would be valued and considered in future action steps. The project Sustainable Packaging Towards Marine Litter Reduction Project, implemented by PCEPSDI, is funded by the ‘Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter’ project of the European Union andthe German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). ‘Rethinking Plastics‘is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH andExpertise France. More information: https://beatplasticpollution.eu/rethinking-plastics/ This newsletter was produced with the financial support of the ‘Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter’ project. ‘Rethinking Plastics’ is funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by GIZ and Expertise France. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of PCEPSDI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the BMZ, GIZ or Expertise France. Main Author: Ms. Andrea M. Alejandro; Co-author: Mr. Augusto Luis A. Labos

SM Supermalls for PCEPSDI NELP-GCP

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SM Supermalls exploring on how The Philippine Center for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development (PCEPSDI) through the National Ecolabelling Programme – Green Choice Philippines (NELP-GCP), take initiative for the Ecolabelling of SM Supermalls tenants for their products and services. The National Ecolabelling Programme – Green Choice Philippines (NELP-GCP) is one of the country’s initiatives to exercise the fundamentals of sustainable development. It aims to change the behavioral patterns in consumption and production that tend to misuse, abuse, and degrade our environment. Through a multi-sectoral process, the NELP-GCP programme provides criteria for environmentally-preferable products which can be used as a guide for consumers and institutions for product selection. In this way, SM Supermalls are ensured that their tenants are responsible and doing action for the environmental impact of their products and services. NELP-GCP envisions that environment friendly products or services are being produced and distributed in the country. SM Supermalls is currently engaged with PCEPSDI for the Sustainable Packaging Project. The project aims to promote the use of sustainable packaging by developing and piloting the NELP-GCP criteria for sustainable packaging, developing the private sector roadmap on sustainable packaging towards marine waste reduction that can be initiated by SM Supermalls, and conducting educational and policy campaigns to raise awareness of relevant stakeholders such as retail store employees, policy makers, and general consumers. The meeting is attended by PCEPSDI team are Executive Director, For. June M. Alvarez, Programme Officer of NELP-GCP, Ms. Jouelle H. Nerveza, Project Officer, Ms. Erica Nicole Gomez, Project Assistant, Ms. Kim Castillo, Project Assitant, Ms. Andrea Janelle Go, Project Assistant, Project Coordinator, Ms. Anabelle Selibio, and  Research Assistant, Ms. Paulith H. Aguilar, and for SM Supermalls are the Vice President of Corporate Compliance, Engr. Liza Silero, Assistant Vice President of Sustainability, Corporate Resilience and CSR Marketing, Mr. Chito Bauzon, and Corporate Compliance Manager, Ms. Belinda Gonzales. Author: Engr. Augusto Luis Labos