The Philippines EPR Act asks for 60% plastic recovery by 31 December 2026, and volumes must rise again

The legal stack behind RA 11898

The Philippines EPR Act sits on top of a 2000 statute and has been filled in by at least two administrative orders since. Exhibit 2 sets the layers out in date order. SPI tracks the Act as rule PR-PH-001 on the Philippines page of the SPI Regulation Tracker.

Two changes inside RA 11898 matter beyond the producer duty. Section 4 reshaped the National Solid Waste Management Commission to 8 government members and 5 private-sector members, one of whom comes from manufacturing, packaging or obliged enterprises. Section 5 gave the National Ecology Center the EPR Registry, the job of monitoring registration and compliance, and a one-year task to assess other waste streams for inclusion in EPR. Section 9 asks Congress to review the Act within five years, which on the EMB effective date points to 12 August 2027.

Philippines EPR Act: who is an obliged enterprise

Section 44-B makes large enterprises that generate plastic packaging waste the obliged enterprises. The size test borrows from Republic Act No. 9501, the Magna Carta for MSMEs: a large enterprise is one whose total assets, excluding the land on which its office, plant and equipment sit, exceed the medium-enterprise ceiling. The EMB FAQ says loan-financed assets count and cites PHP 100 million as the current medium-enterprise level, and DENR uses the same PHP 100 million figure in its call for registrations.

Micro, small and medium enterprises are excluded, but the exclusion has a catch. Where several enterprises use the same brand, label or trademark and their combined assets pass the ceiling, all of them are deemed obliged. DAO 2023-02, Sec. 14.2 repeats the rule and encourages other MSMEs to join a collective or a producer responsibility organisation (PRO) voluntarily.

The definition of producer is wide. Under Sec. 3(w-2) the producer can be the brand owner, the manufacturer or the importer of goods brought in for sale, in original or repackaged form, and an enterprise that puts its own brand on a product made by another is treated as its manufacturer. Exhibit 3 turns these clauses into five questions.

The pool is large but not fully known. DENR cited a Department of Trade and Industry estimate of about 4,000 large enterprises in the country. Down To Earth reported on 1 September 2026 that about 2,130 businesses are believed to meet the asset threshold. SPI has not yet confirmed the 2,130 figure against a DENR or DTI source, so Exhibit 7 uses the 4,000 estimate and shows the other as a sensitivity.

Which plastic packaging is covered

Section 44-C lists four categories, and DAO 2023-02 folds them into two pools for counting. Exhibit 4 shows how the statute’s list maps onto the footprint.

The Act is limited to plastic packaging, defined in Sec. 3(v-3) as polymer material designed to protect goods or carry them for transport, distribution and sale. Paper, glass and metal packaging stay under the general RA 9003 duties on segregation at source (Sec. 21) and barangay recovery facilities (Sec. 32). Readers comparing fee-based schemes in Europe will find those materials priced in Ledger 04 on EPR fees per tonne; the Philippine law charges no per-tonne fee for them.

The pool split matters most for sachet-heavy portfolios. The EMB FAQ says recovery is type-specific and not brand-specific: a company’s flexible footprint is offset against recovery of flexible plastic waste of any brand, and the same for rigid. A company can therefore buy recovery of another firm’s sachets, but it cannot use surplus PET bottle collection to cover a shortfall in films.

Registration: what an EPR program must contain

Section 44-E requires obliged enterprises, or the PRO acting for them, to register their EPR programs with the National Solid Waste Management Commission through DENR within six months of the Act taking effect. For the original cohort that pointed to February 2023. Companies that pass the threshold later still have to register, and DAO 2023-02, Sec. 16.3.3.2 sets their starting target at the rate of the year they register: 40% for 2024 registrants and 50% for 2025 registrants.

DAO 2023-02 then sets the paperwork and the clock. Exhibit 5 sets out both.

Two components deserve attention. The footprint must be reported in kilograms per type for a 12-month period (Sec. 16.3.2.3), and in the first year it rested on self-declaration, later tested in the audit (Sec. 16.3.2.4). The implementation component must include a geographic roll-out plan (Sec. 16.3.6.2), which Exhibit 11 sets out.

Labels are part of the program, not an afterthought. Section 44-E(g) asks for labels that support recovery, reuse, recycling or disposal, and DAO 2023-02, Sec. 12.1.6.3 tasks the DTI Bureau of Philippine Standards with a coding system based on the ISO 14020 series. Programs are to be revised once those eco-label rules are issued (Sec. 12.1.6.8). SPI has not yet confirmed that the DTI coding system has been issued.

How many enterprises have registered

DENR has published registration counts at irregular dates, and each count uses a slightly different unit. Exhibit 6 sets the reported figures in order.

The Philippine News Agency reported on 5 June 2024 that EMB counted 917 companies on 6 May 2024, up 37% from 667 in 2023. By January 2026 the count was 1,017 entities in 201 programs, as ChemLinked reported, an average of about 5 entities per program by SPI’s calculation, which shows how much of the market works through collectives and PROs.

Either way, most of the estimated pool had not registered by January 2026. That is the context for the 155 show-cause letters that the Palace Press Officer reported on DENR’s behalf in August 2026, and for the fine schedules described below.

Philippine EPR results: 2023 and 2024 compared

The results so far have met each target, but the reported numbers come from different sources and stages of audit. Exhibit 8 sets them side by side.

Flexible plastic made up about 51% of the kilograms diverted in 2024, by SPI’s calculation from the Philippine Star figures (124 of about 244 million kg). That matters because flexibles are the harder stream to recycle mechanically, and the recovery hierarchy in Exhibit 10 lets them count through co-processing.

There is also a gap to explain. The 2023 unaudited footprint was 624,547 tonnes; the reported 2024 figures imply about 439,000 tonnes, by SPI’s calculation (246,000 tonnes divided by 0.5598). That is about 30% lower. SPI has not yet confirmed why; possible causes include the move from self-declaration to audited figures, a different set of reporting companies, or real reduction. Down To Earth made a similar back-calculation and noted that the denominator is self-reported.

SPI scenario: the tonnage the 2026 to 2028 targets demand

The most useful single number for planning is not the rate but the tonnes. Exhibit 9 applies the statutory rates to the footprint implied by the reported 2024 results.

The 2025 row shows why the early years looked easy: 2024’s reported diversion of 246,000 tonnes already exceeds the 220,000 tonnes the 2025 target asks of a flat pool. From 2026 the curve turns. In the base case the pool needs 18,000 tonnes more than in 2024 for 2026 and 106,000 tonnes more for 2028, about 43% above 2024 volume. In the high case, where newly registered firms add footprint, the 2028 need is 161,000 tonnes above 2024.

The same arithmetic works at company level. A brand whose 2025 footprint was 5,000 tonnes, split 3,000 rigid and 2,000 flexible, needs 1,800 tonnes of rigid and 1,200 tonnes of flexible recovery for 2026, by SPI’s calculation at 60%. Surplus in one pool does nothing for the other, so a firm that met 2024 on bottle collection alone may find the flexible line is the one that sets its 2026 risk. The split here is an SPI assumption; each firm should use its own registered footprint.

Offsetting and the recovery ladder

The Act asks obliged enterprises to recover or offset their footprint. Offsetting is named as a recovery method in DAO 2023-02 (Secs. 11.2.1 and 12.2.1) but the rules do not define it further. What the rules do define is the evidence: each sworn plastic waste diversion certificate must be issued in the obliged enterprise’s name by the recycler, treater or disposal operator (Sec. 12.2.2.4) and notarised (Sec. 16.3.3.5), and the total weight on the certificates is a principal basis for compliance, subject to the third-party audit (Sec. 16.3.3.6).

Recovery routes are ranked, but none is capped. Exhibit 10 shows the order in the rules.

Because every route counts and the rules set no share per route, a kilogram co-processed counts the same toward the target as a kilogram recycled. Down To Earth reported in September 2026 that the 2024 figure includes co-processing and that the split between recycled and burned tonnage is not published. SPI has not yet confirmed that split.

Two other provisions shape the offset market. The National Ecology Center is to recommend a crediting system for footprint reduction (Sec. 12.4), and UNDP reported on 9 July 2026 that EMB is working on guidance for measuring footprint reduction from reuse, refill, redesign, material reduction and recycled content. Until that guidance is out, reduction work belongs in the program narrative and recovery tonnage remains the compliance number.

The Philippine design differs from India’s. India’s plastic rules trade EPR certificates by category through a central portal, as SPI’s India piece sets out; the Philippine rules rest on notarised certificates per obliged enterprise and a third-party audit, with no national trading platform written into the rules.

Beyond recovery: reduction, redesign and the phase-out list

Recovery tonnage is the number DENR audits, but the Act asks for more than collection. Section 44-D sets three aims for every EPR program: efficient management of plastic packaging waste, less use of packaging that is hard to reuse, recycle or retrieve, and plastic neutrality. DAO 2023-02 defines plastic neutrality in Sec. 6.41 as recovering or removing from the environment an equivalent amount of plastic for every unit of footprint. Reduction, avoidance and redesign work is submitted to the National Ecology Center as part of the program (Secs. 12.1 and 16.3.4).

Two clocks run in parallel with the recovery targets. The National Ecology Center was given one year from effectivity to assess other waste streams for inclusion in EPR, and to review products and packaging that are not environmentally acceptable (RA 11898, Sec. 5; DAO 2023-02, Secs. 9.11 and 9.12). Section 9 of the Act then asks the Center to update its list of products and packaging to be phased out within one year, while Congress reviews the Act within five years. SPI has not yet confirmed a published update of that list since 2022.

The practical effect is that a reduction made today lowers next year’s footprint, and so next year’s target in tonnes. A brand that cuts 1,000 tonnes from its 2026 footprint removes 700 tonnes from its 2027 recovery duty and, if the cut holds, 800 tonnes a year from 2028, by SPI’s calculation at the Sec. 44-F rates. That is the arithmetic that makes redesign a compliance tool in the Philippines, not only a sustainability pledge, and it is why the measurement guidance UNDP described in July 2026 matters to brand owners.

The roll-out map: where recovery must happen

The registration must include a geographic roll-out plan, because the rules do not expect national coverage from day one. Exhibit 11 shows the schedule in DAO 2023-02.

The roll-out runs alongside the local government system. Under RA 9003, local government units run collection and segregation (Secs. 10 and 21) and every barangay or cluster of barangays should have a materials recovery facility (Sec. 32). An obliged enterprise’s collection partners in 2027 will increasingly be smaller municipalities, where infrastructure is thinner and collection costs per kilogram are likely higher. SPI has not yet confirmed any published cost per kilogram by area.

The audit cycle and what becomes public

Section 44-G requires each obliged enterprise or PRO to keep an auditing system and hire an independent third-party auditor to certify its footprint, recovery and compliance against uniform DENR standards.

DAO 2023-02 adds the detail. The auditor cannot be an officer, employee, member or affiliate of the enterprise, collective or PRO (Sec. 19.3.2), and interim auditors must be certified public accountants (Sec. 19.3.3). The audit covers the footprint declaration, recovery and diversion, footprint reductions and any confidentiality claims (Sec. 19.1.2). EMB may ask for clarification and commission its own check audit at its own cost (Secs. 19.4.2 and 19.4.3), and the case can then go to the Pollution Adjudication Board under Sec. 49(g) (Sec. 19.4.4).

DAO 2024-04, ceremonially signed on 5 June 2024, set the interim compliance reporting and audit guidelines. Its central document is the EPR Compliance Audit Report (ECAR): the compliance report with the registration number, reference year, accountable footprint, diverted plastic and diversion accomplishment, plus the auditor’s report and a sworn statement by the designated EPR officer and the top executive, according to a Baker McKenzie summary of 4 July 2024. The UNEP LEAP record says the guidelines apply until DENR finalises standards and accreditation.

Transparency is partial. Section 44-G has the certified reports posted on the DENR website except data DENR deems confidential, such as production and sales figures, and DAO 2023-02, Sec. 19.4.5 says only consolidated, aggregated data is made public. A competitor will not see a rival’s footprint; the market will see national totals such as those in Exhibit 8.

Fines and enforcement

Section 49(g) of RA 9003, added by RA 11898, applies to failure to register a program or meet the targets, and names falsification, misdeclared footprint and schemes to evade responsibility. The Pollution Adjudication Board of DENR hears the cases. Ledger 36 worked through the double-cost alternative on example shortfalls; Exhibit 13 shows the ladder and the enforcement steps reported since.

The Act also offers carrots. Section 45 of RA 9003, as amended, provides rewards and recognition, tax incentives subject to the Strategic Investment Priority Plan, and deduction of EPR expenses as necessary business expenses under the Tax Code (DAO 2023-02, Secs. 20.1 and 20.2). DENR’s EPR Recognition Program on 30 January 2026 was one use of the reward clause.