June 24, 2024
I am a Mining Engineer by profession and have been in the sustainability space for roughly 5 years now. I first started my career as a Pollution Officer for a contractor of a cement company Back then, graduating from Mining Engineering would mean rushing towards the more technical positions – cost control, operations, planning, etc. I was one of the few that landed a role a bit far from the norm.
However, it was in that PCO role that led me to understand more about the relationship between environment, people, and businesses. I did practice my mining career but eventually shifted to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Sustainability when I was asked by my former boss in the renewable energy company that I was working at to be their ESG Officer. It was during that time that I had a better understanding of the vast aspects of sustainability and became at peace that this was the work that I would love to do from then on.
Eventually, I volunteered for organizations that advocate for these aspects like PH Parks and Biodiversity, The Climate Reality Project Philippines, Sustainable PH, 3Zero PH, etc. I shifted to other roles in the same field across other companies. Now, I am working as an ESG Manager for a consulting firm, helping companies shape their sustainability strategies in the best ways possible.
Sustainability isn’t just a passing trend, it’s not a form of compliance, it’s a movement. It’s what we should do.
And we, as humans who are enjoying these natural resources, should take part in taking care of it before it’s too late. My experiences at work and from the volunteer organizations, as well as the volumes of articles and media that I read and watch, as well as the current reality that we have (whether it be on climate change or societal aspects), ultimately led to my decision to become a sustainability practitioner. Since then, I vowed to myself that ESG/Sustainability is going to be my advocacy.
Embracing sustainable practices brings forth a lot of opportunities – whether it be on an investor level, or improved stakeholder engagement, to reduction of costs!
Sustainable companies would have reduced costs and increased profits as they operate more efficiently, taking into account both financial and non-financial aspects.
As sustainability is already a growing theme of concern for investors, a sustainable company would gather more investments and would have better engagement from stakeholders. Further, sustainable practices bring bigger positive impacts to society and on natural resources.
The Extended Producer Responsibility Act (EPRA) of 2022 is the law that institutionalizes the extended producer responsibility of packaging waste.
Among the objectives of the EPR Act of 2022 is to achieve plastic neutrality which is defined as a “system or its desired outcome where, for every amount of plastic product footprint created, an equivalent amount thereof is recovered or removed from the environment by the product producers through an efficient waste management system.
The Philippines is facing serious plastic pollution. Our country is one of the largest contributors of plastics in the bodies of water. EPRA helps in putting accountability on the manufacturers of plastic packaging to help in the reduction of the waste they generate.
Through the EPRA, companies are required to create EPR programs that can help them recover the waste they generate and to put proper labeling in relation to the type of packaging material, as well as information to facilitate reusing recycling, or proper disposal of the materials.
The EPRA also requires companies to account for their footprint and recover their post-consumer wastes. The law has also helped generate more positive impacts on waste collection across communities as waste diverters partner with them in the collection of waste.
Further, EPRA actually requires the companies to have their footprint and diversion-related reports to be audited. This is to ensure that such statements are well accounted for. Overall, EPRA is a huge step in the transition to circularity in the Philippines.
For the baseline year, challenges are mostly in the creation of the EPR programs, and accounting for the waste footprint especially as it’s not a common practice for all.
At least, in my experience, there is a struggle in understanding the data that they have. The growing demand as well for third-party waste diversion programs calls for more innovations and establishments that can cater to the demand.
There should be proper awareness of the objectives of the Circular Economy and the Extended Producer Responsibility. At the end of the day, the benefits outweigh the initial challenges of complying, especially on the reporting part.
Companies should have robust data governance to properly account for the data they will declare, they can also tap experts to help them build their EPR programs and ensure proper compliance with the law, they can also work with institutions that can help them work on innovating more eco-friendly packaging, and work directly with communities to help them work through waste diversion practices.
Companies should also do their part to make their stakeholders aware of what the circular economy is and how it’ll help not just their company, but the society and the environment that we live in.
There are several consulting firms that can help companies to integrate circular strategies into their business operations. There are also a lot of not-for-profit organizations that advocate for CE where companies can partner with them.
Again, companies can partner with academic and science institutions that can help innovate packaging materials that can have better life cycles or recyclability. There are also a lot of studies about the plastic and waste situation in the Philippines which can help them understand further on how they can prioritize their EPR programs.
Compliance with EPRA should not lead to higher product prices. In fact, EPRA brings in fiscal incentives for companies that comply with the law.
It’s a matter of understanding what Circular Economy is, working towards creating a robust data governance structure, and working with the right institutions that can help them account for their wastes and divert the ones that they generate.
In the Philippines, there is a growing demand for transparency on the companies’ non-financial performance. This can be done through publishing sustainability reports annually. SEC already mandates Publicly Listed Companies to do so. At the forefront, it’s definitely the circular economy that companies should integrate into their business practices. With climate change much evident in the extreme weather events that we are experiencing, the transition away from fossil fuels is also the next step.
Companies are now working on accounting for their GHG emissions and establishing GHG emission reduction targets. Of course, there are also social aspects like the widening inclusion of digital services and even the transition to sustainable finance for banks and other financial services.
I’d like to answer this as a sustainability practitioner. Consulting firms have a huge stake in helping companies achieve their sustainability strategies by building through technical aspects and providing awareness for their stakeholders.
In EPRA, firms can either be advisors or auditors that can help them achieve their EPR compliance. NGOs are also key players in providing awareness and widening efforts in building community capacity to embrace circular economy strategies.
As stewards of nature, learning more about how the circular economy can help the country will lead to even more sustainable futures for us and the generations to come.
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