Press Release
April 4, 2018

Villanueva pushes for refund-deposit scheme to curb PH plastic waste

Senator Joel Villanueva on Wednesday sought the passage of a law which aims to improve the country's waste disposal management of beverage containers.

Villanueva has filed Senate Bill No. 1032 or the Beverage Container Disposal Act which mandates the beverage industry to prepare, submit, and implement a management plan that sets out an effective disposal mechanism and accounting of beverage containers.

The bill seeks to further encourage proper disposal of beverage containers among consumers by institutionalizing a refund-deposit mechanism. This mechanism mandates the monetary compensation of individuals who will return beverage containers to designated sites, like retail stores, thus creating incentives for proper disposal among the general public.

Beverage containers, especially plastic, are just one kind of plastic wastes being dumped into the world's oceans every year.

According to environmental group Greenpeace, Philippines is the third biggest plastic polluter into the ocean next to China and Indonesia.

Villanueva acknowledged the need to improve the waste disposal management noting that excessive production and use of beverage containers can impose both environmental and health risks to both humans and animals.

"The government needs to strengthen existing mechanisms for effective disposal of beverage containers by institutionalizing the active participation of both the industry and consumers in reusing and recycling beverage containers," he said.

Under the bill, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) may prescribe to the beverage container agency a management plan for the collection, transport, reuse, and recycling of beverage containers that it sells into the domestic market.

"We want to impose discipline among Filipinos on the importance of proper waste management and recycling," the senator said.

"Little by little, we can do so much for our environment and we must strive to remove our country from the list of major contributors of plastic wastes being dumped into the world's oceans," Villanueva stressed.

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