Philippines congress votes for single-use plastic tax to boost national waste infrastructure

16 Nov 2022 --- The Philippines’ lower house of Congress has approved taxing single-use plastics, following president Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s commitment to tackle ocean pollution. The Senate must approve the tax measure before a reconciled bill is sent to Marcos for signature. The tax is expected to raise 9.3 billion pesos (US$481 million) in revenues annually, which will be used to fund solid waste management projects. 

The bill says a tax of 100 pesos (US$1.75) would be levied on firms for every kilogram of single-use plastics that they produce or import, and it would rise by 4% annually starting in 2026 to discourage usage and protect the environment. 

“This tax can impact producers and importers, but they may not necessarily reduce production or importation. Greenpeace is concerned about the possible burden on people, as companies may pass on these costs to the consumers,” Marian Ledesma, zero waste campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia, tells PackagingInsights. 

President Marcos has announced he wants to “clean up” the country.“For it to be effective in that it leads to producers and importers reducing production or use, exploring non-disposable alternatives or investing in reuse/refill, there should be a provision that regulates the increase in cost per unit or kilogram of plastic bags, or restricts added costs to be passed on to end users.”

Improving national waste management 
Marcos, in his first address to the nation after winning the presidency in May, said the Philippines will not skirt its responsibility to the planet and will “clean up” the country.

“Ideally, the local governments implementing the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003) on the ground will receive support to effectively execute measures such as segregation at source, waste characterization, composting and source reduction,” says Ledesma.

“Composting and segregation at source are particularly crucial as 52% of the Philippines’ waste is biodegradable (e.g., food waste, garden waste), and other types of waste may be reused, refurbished or recycled appropriately if segregated properly.”

“We also have to note that bags only comprise a portion of the country’s plastic waste. What would be more effective in reducing plastic waste is adding plastic bags and other pervasive plastic products to the “non-environmentally acceptable products” (NEAP) list, and to implement prohibition of these products,” adds Ledesma.

R&D fund
Ledesma continues by saying there are more types of plastic products that are just as problematic and can be restricted. Aside from plastic bags, they should add sachets, plastic cutleries and plastic cups, among others to the NEAP list. This would be a more effective upstream intervention for waste reduction.

“Budget is one thing, but we also need the political will to enforce our Ecological Solid Waste Management Act and for the government to have a comprehensive assessment of what is needed by municipalities to execute solid waste management activities.”Roughly 80% of global ocean plastic comes from Asian rivers.

Ledesma continues by saying that a portion of the fund should go to R&D of reuse and refill systems that will enable waste reduction without investing in harmful schemes like thermal treatment.”

National government data shows that the number of illegal dumpsites has decreased from over 1000 in 2011 to zero in 2022. Furthermore, the data shows that sanitary landfills have continuously increased from 34 sites in 2011 to 276 sites in 2022. 

Sachet pollution 
Roughly 80% of global ocean plastic comes from Asian rivers, and the Philippines alone contributes a third of the total, according to a 2021 report by Oxford University’s Our World in Data. 

Single-use plastics are ubiquitous in the Philippines, which uses 163 million sachets a day, according to a 2016 study by the environmental group The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. 

In June, investigators found that in at least three countries – Sri Lanka, the Philippines and India – Unilever campaigned against national legislation restricting sachet use, sidestepped new policy measures with labeling ploys and lobbied senators to drop the sachet bans its marketing arm claims to promote. 

By Natalie Schwertheim