EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
First Regular Session
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SENATE
S. B. NO. 
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KK« t-:iVKn BY;
Introduced by SENATOR JOEL VILLANUEVA
AN ACT
REQUIRING THE IMPLEMENTATION BY BRAND OWNERS OF 
MANAGEMENT PLANS THAT PROVIDE REFUND VALUES 
FOR CERTAIN BEVERAGE CONTAINERS
EXPLANATORY NOTE
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Beyerage containers- including caps and labels, can easily end up in 
landfills, dumpsites, or oceans and other body of water in the absence of a
proper recovery system. This poses not only ecological hazard to wildlife but 
also public health risks.
In 2017, a team of scientists discovered a total of 36 tiny pieces of 
plastic in the bodies of 120 mackerel, anchovies, mullets and croakers fishes 
which are eaten by humans.1 
Meanwhile, a body of a rare fish’ called 
coelacanth washed up in Indonesia with food wrappers around its intestines 2 
while a body of a pregnant whale shark was found with 50 pounds of plastic in 
her stomach. These are just a few of the alarming number of reports of 
marine creatures that have died because of plastics in the ocean.
Thus, the government needs to strengthen existing mechanisms for 
effective recovery, disposal, and management of beverage containers by
Line1.!; July 2 h PlaSliC micr°Particles found in flesh offish eaten by humans. Retrieved fronv
tjttps.//www.independent.co.uk/environinentyplastic-micronartides-fish-flRsh-eatRn-hnnmn>;-
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- <:.h! ! n' lliaCkerel~anchovv' mullet~a786077(S >1tml (date last accessed: June 26 2019) 
hMnc/m!8, 
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Retrieved 
from-
leaS,e?nPOS COni/artlCle/deatll' i:)laStiC' WaStft (date iRQt 
|nnc 26 2019)
2019, April 2 This pregnant what died with 50 pounds of plastic in her stom ack Retrieved
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^ lP s //www natlonalqeoqraphic.com/environmerit/2019/04/dead-nreanal-li-whaiR-
plastic-italv/ (date last accessed: June 26, 2019) 
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creating adequate incentives for consumers to reuse and recycle beveraoe 
containers. 
a
In recognition of the greater role that the beverage industry needs to 
play towards this end. this bill requires the industry to prepare submit and 
implement a management plan that sets out an effective disposal mechanism 
and accounting of beverage containers. 
This bill also seeks to further 
encourage proper disposal of beverage containers among consumers by 
institutionalizing a refund mechanism. This mechanism mandates that 
individuals who return beverage containers to designated sites get an amount 
which shall not be less than Five Pesos, thus creating incentives for proper 
disposal among the general public.
The immediate passage of this bill is earnestly sought.
SENATO
VILLANUEVA


EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
First Regular Session
SENATE 
S. B. NO. 156
of fbc^J^rrrHarij
*19 JUL -2 All 145 
Ki-;t
Introduced by SENATOR JOEL VILLANUEVA
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AN ACT
REQUIRING THE IMPLEMENTATION BY BRAND OWNERS OF 
MANAGEMENT PLANS THAT PROVIDE REFUND VALUES FOR 
CERTAIN BEVERAGE CONTAINERS
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled:
SECTION 1. Short Title. -  This Act shall be known as the “Beverage 
Container Disposal Act."
SEC. 2. Definition of Terms. -  For purposes of this Act, the following terms 
are hereby defined:
a. Beverage refers to non-alcoholic or alcoholic carbonated or non- 
carbonated liquid that is intended for human consumption;
b. Beverage container refers to those constructed primarily of metal, 
glass, plastic, or paper (or a combination of those materials) and 
has a capacity of not more than two gallons of liquid;
c. Beverage container agency refers to the following:
1. brand owner; or
2. an entity appointed by the brand owner to act as an agent on 
behalf of the brand owner;
d. Brand owner refers to a person that owns the trademark for, 
manufactures, distributes, or imports for resale in interstate 
commerce, a beverage sold in a beverage container;


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f.
Department means the Department of Environment and Natural 
Resources;
Management plan refers to the document submitted in accordance 
with Section 5 of this Act;
g. Recovery rate is the percentage obtained by dividing;
1. the number of beverage containers of a brand owner returned for 
a refund under Section 11 (b)(2) in a calendar year; by
2. the number of beverage containers of the brand owner for which 
a deposit was collected under Section 11 (a) in the calendar year;
h. Refund value means the value of a beverage container determined 
in accordance with Section 11 (b)(2) of this Act;
i. 
Return site refers to an operation, facility, retail store, or an 
association of operations, facilities, or retail stores identified in an 
approved management plan and is operating under contract entered 
into by the return site and a beverage container agency to collect and 
redeem empty beverage containers of one (1) or more brand owners;
j. 
Seller refers to a person that sells a beverage in a beverage 
container and shall include all members of the supply chain;
k. Unbroken beverage container includes a beverage container that 
has been opened in a manner in which the beverage container was 
designed to be opened.
SEC. 3. Responsibilities of the Brand Owner. -  Each brand owner shall 
implement an effective redemption, transportation, processing, marketing, and 
reporting system for the reuse and recycling of used beverage containers of the 
brand owner; Provided, That no brand owner or beverage container agency 
shall dispose of any beverage container labeled in accordance with Section 4 
in any landfill or other solid waste disposal facility.
SEC. 4. Beverage Container Labelling. -  No brand owner may sell or offer 
for sale a beverage in a beverage container unless a statement of the refund 
value of the beverage container, as defined under the implementing rules and 
regulations issued pursuant to this Act, is clearly, prominently, and securely 
affixed to, printed on, or embossed on the beverage container.


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regulations issued pursuant to this Act, is clearly, prominently, and securely 
affixed to, printed on, or embossed on the beverage container.
SEC. 5. Submission of Management Plan. -  Not later than 180 days after 
the approval of this Act or within 60 days after its due incorporation, each 
beverage container agency shall submit to the Department;
a) a management plan, in such form as the Department may prescribe 
for the collection, transport, reuse, and recycling of beverage 
containers that the beverage container agency, or that each brand 
owner represented by the beverage container agency, sells into the 
domestic market; and
b) a fee, in such amount as the Department may establish by regulation, 
to cover administrative costs relating to the administration of the 
management plan.
SEC. 6. Content of Management Plan. -
a) The management plan submitted under Section 5 of this Act shall 
contain the following information:
1) the name, and address for service of process, of the beverage 
container agency submitting the management plan;
2) the name and title of a contact person at the beverage container 
agency;
3) the name and corporate address of each brand owner covered 
by the management plan;
4) a proposed implementation date for the management plan; and
5) appropriate documentation of agreements entered into by the 
beverage container agency and return site operators that is valid 
and subsisting on the date of the implementation of the 
management plan;
b) The beverage container agency shall also provide in the management 
plan the description of the following;
1) ways in which the beverage container agency intends to make 
the use of return sites convenient for consumers of beverages 
covered by the management plan in all areas of commerce;


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2) ways in which the beverage container agency intends to 
achieve, not later than two (2) years after the date of the 
implementation of the management plan, a recovery rate of at 
least eighty percent (80%); and
3) ways in which the beverage container agency will manage 
beverage containers returned under the management plan in an 
environmentally responsible manner.
c) Each beverage container agency that submits a management plan 
under this Section shall promptly notify the Department, in writing, of 
any change in the information provided under this Section.
SEC. 7. Approval of Management Plan. -  The Department shall approve or 
disapprove each management plan submitted under this section within 10 
working days from complete submission of all required documents. 
In 
determining whether to approve or disapprove a management plan, the 
Department may return the management plan to the beverage container 
agency with a request for additional information or with amendments 
proposed by the Department.
If the Department disapproves a management plan, the Department shall, not 
later than 60 days after the date of disapproval, provide to the beverage 
container agency that submitted the management plan a written explanation 
of the reasons for disapproval.
SEC. 8. Implementation of Management Plan. —
a) A brand owner that, on or before the date of the enactment of this Act, 
is selling a beverage in a beverage container, shall:
1) not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
have in effect a management plan that has been approved by 
the Department; and
2) implement the management plan in accordance with the 
implementation date proposed in the management plan under 
Section 6(a)(4) of this Act.
b) A brand owner that proposes, after the date of enactment of this Act, to 
sell a beverage in a beverage container shall:
1) have, as of the date on which the brand owner commences the 
selling of the beverage, a management plan that has been 
approved by the Department; and


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2) implement the management plan in accordance with the 
implementation date proposed in the management plan under 
Section 6(a)(4) of this Act.
No brand owner shall sell any beverage in a beverage container except as in 
accordance with subsection (a) or (b), as appropriate; or on or after the 
implementation date proposed in a management plan of the brand owner 
under Section 6(a)(4), if the Department has not approved the management 
plan.
Reporting. — Each beverage container agency, the management 
plan of which, has been duly approved and implemented in accordance with 
this Act shall, not later than March 31 of each year after the implementation 
date of the management plan, submit to the Department a report detailing the 
effectiveness of the management plan during the preceding calendar year.
The report to be submitted by the beverage container agency shall contain, 
but not be limited to, the following information:
a) for each type of beverage container returned, the recovery rate, 
expressed as a percentage, audited by an entity independent of the 
beverage container agency; and
b) annual financial statements, prepared by an entity independent of the 
beverage container agency, of all deposits received and refunds paid 
by each brand owner subject to the management plan.
The Department may make available to the public the information described in 
this Section.
SEC. 10. Refund. -
a) On and after the implementation date of an approved management 
plan, a beverage container return site covered by the management 
plan shall:
1) accept unbroken beverage containers for return; and
2) pay to a person returning beverage containers an amount in 
cash that is equal to the total of the refund values affixed to, 
printed on, or embossed on, each container returned by the 
person.
A return site shall not be required to accept or pay a refund for a beverage 
container under this section if, as determined by the return site, the beverage 
container:


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a) is contaminated or, for hygienic reasons, is unsuitable for recycling;
b) can be reasonably identified as a container that was purchased outside 
the Philippines; or
c) cannot be reasonably identified as a container to which this Act 
applies.
SEC. 11. Refund Value. -
a) Effective January 1, 2020, the refund value of a beverage container 
shall not be lower than Five Pesos (PhpS.OO).
b) The refund value of a beverage container under subsection (a) shall be
updated on the date that is five (5) years after the date of enactment of 
this Act, and every five (5) years thereafter, to reflect changes during 
those periods in the Consumer Price Index for all published by the 
Philippine Statistics Authority: 
Provided, That any refund value
adjustment made in accordance with this subsection shall be rounded 
to the nearest 50-cent increment.
SEC. 12. Recovery Rates. -  In the event that a brand owner that complies 
with each provision of this Act fails to achieve a recovery rate of at least 80 
percent during a calendar year, the Department may require that the 
beverage container agency of the concerned brand owner pay an amount 
equal to the difference between:
a) the amount of deposits collected on beverage containers of the brand 
owner that were sold; and
b) the amount of refunds paid on those beverage containers.
SEC. 13. Penalties. -  A beverage container agency that fails to submit a 
management plan within the time prescribed under this Act shall be subject to 
a fine ranging from P I00,000 to P I0,000,000. A corresponding increase in the 
amount of the imposable fine shall be increased for each day of violation. The 
Department may, in proper proceedings and upon compliance with due 
process of law, may suspend or revoke the appropriate environmental 
licenses of the concerned beverage container agency.
SEC. 14. Report by the Department. -  Not later than May 31 of each year, 
the Department shall submit to the Congress a report that describes;
a) the recovery rate for beverage containers during the year covered by 
the report; and


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b) the extent to which beverage container collection is proceeding in 
accordance with this Act.
SEC. 15. Transitory Provision. -  A special financial support for displaced 
workers in the solid waste disposal industry shall be allocated and included in 
the appropriations under the Technical Education and Skills Development 
Authority (TESDA) to finance the training programs of displaced workers, to 
be included in the General Appropriations Acts annually.
SEC. 16. Implementing Rules and Regulations. -  The Department, in 
consultation with relevant stakeholders shall issue within sixty (60) days after 
the effectivity of this Act. the rules and regulations for the effective 
implementation of this Act.
SEC. 17. 
Separability Clause. -  If any provision of this Act or any part 
thereof shall be declared unconstitutional or invalid, the other provisions, as 
far as they are separable, shall remain in force and effect.
SEC. 18. 
Repealing Clause. -  All laws, decrees, orders, rules and 
regulations or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this 
Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.
SEC. 19. Effectivity. -  This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general 
Circulation.
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Approved,