Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House Bill No.

Introduced by CIBAC Party-List Representatives
Eduardo “Bro. Eddie” C. Villanueva and Domingo C. Rivera

AN ACT
REQUIRING THE IMPLEMENTATION BY BRAND OWNERS OF
MANAGEMENT PLANS THAT PROVIDE REFUND VALUES FOR
CERTAIN BEVERAGE CONTAINERS

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The world’s pursuit for progress has resulted to one of the most urgent
environmental issues of our time: plastic pollution, which is the “accumulation in the
environment of synthetic plastic products to the point where they create problems for
wildlife and their habitats as well as for human populations.’ Once people have
realized the conveniences of using plastics, it seems like there is no turning back. In
fact, the rapidly increasing production of plastics now overwhelms the world’s ability
to manage them.2

We can see the adverse effects of plastic mismanagement all around us—
clogged drains that cause flooding during heavy rains or, even, mere high tide
occurrences; plastic-filled landfills and dumpsites that cause harm to our environment
and to our health; coastal lines littered with plastics, especially the single-use ones;
and others.

* Encyclopedia on 31, July 2019.

22019, June 7.



Most disturbingly, our plastic mismanagement harms, or worse, kills those
which have no part in it such as animals, especially creatures at sea, where most
plastics pile up. Almost 700 species of animals are affected by plastics. Millions of
them—from birds to fish to other sea creatures—are strangled, poisoned, or starved
to death by plastics every year.>

Plastic mismanagement is true not just in the world in general, but also in the
Philippines in particular. A study done by Ocean Conservancy put the Philippines as
‘one of the top five countries where most plastic wastes originate.* Moreover, a United
Nations report indicated that 81% of the Philippines, or accounting to 6,237,653
kilograms, daily plastic consumption are mismanaged. A huge chunk of these wastes
comes from mismanaged beverage plastic containers.

Recently, there have been collective efforts, from the beverage industry and
the public alike, to organize projects that will promote proper disposal of beverage
containers. As much as we laud these endeavors, we also acknowledge the urgent
need for a law to mandate, not just encourage, proper management of beverage
disposal, especially in the side of beverage manufacturers.

This bill aims to strengthen and improve existing mechanisms for effective
recovery, disposal, and management of beverage containers. While, by providing
incentives, it encourages consumers to take part in the process, it also acknowledges
the beverage industry's bigger role in handling beverage containers by requiring them
to submit a management plan about it.

Given the current trend, the country's plastic problems will exponentially

exacerbate if left ignored. Therefore, the immediate passing of this bill is earnestly
sought.

ere an

HON. EDUARDO “BRO. EDDIE” C. VILLANUEVA

MINGO/C. RIVERA

3 Ibid,

4 2019, January 14. Plastic Problems. Retrieved from https /lifestyie,mb.com,ph/2019/01/14/plastic-problems/ on
2019, July 30.

* 2018, une 6 istry of 5 icaaaees et Eva Het ot Works Plea Wane — UN Fepot Retrieved from
Jhweww.c t

half.

work-solasto-weste-un-Tepottony on "2018, July 3 30.


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

. 3220
House Bill No.

Introduced by CIBAC Party-List Representatives
Eduardo “Bro. Eddie” C. Villanueva and Domingo C. Rivera

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."

SECTION 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;

e. Department means the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources;

f. 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.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 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.


SECTION 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;

. the name and corporate address of each brand owner covered by the
management plan;

. a proposed implementation date for the management plan; and

. 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;

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on

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;

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.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 8. Implementation of Management Plan. —

a. Abrand 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

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.

SECTION 9. 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.

SECTION 10. Refund. —

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 retum 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:

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.

SECTION 11. Refund Value. —

a. Effective January 1, 2020, the refund value of a beverage container shall not
be lower than Five Pesos (Php5.00).

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.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 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 P100,000 to P10,000,000. 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.

SECTION 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

b. the extent to which beverage container collection is proceeding in accordance
with this Act.

SECTION 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.


SECTION 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.

SECTION 17. Separability Clause. — |f 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.

SECTION 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.

SECTION 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.

Approved,