THE House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a measure to regulate and phase-out the production of single-use plastics.

House Bill 9147 or the Single-Use Plastic Products Act aims to curb the growing problem of plastic pollution in the country.

Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, one of the bill’s principal authors, thanked the passage of these important measures saying the Philippines is one of the world’s top five countries that contribute to plastic and marine pollution.

“The time is ripe for the country to enact a national legislation that will regulate the production, importation, sale, distribution, provision, use, recovery, collection, recycling and disposal of single-use plastic products,” Velasco said.

HB 9147 provides for the gradual phase out of single-use plastics, which refer to “plastic products designed to be disposed of, destroyed, or recycled, after only one use.”

Once the bill is enacted into law, non-compostable single-use plastic products like drinking straws; stirrers; sticks for candy, balloon and cotton bud; buntings; confetti; and packaging or bags of less than 10 microns in thickness shall be phased out within one year.

Other single-use plastic products such as plates and saucers; cups, bowls and lids; cutlery like spoons, forks, knives and chopsticks; food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene; oxo-degradable plastics; film wrap, packaging or bags of less than 50 microns in thickness; and sachets and pouches that are multilayered with other materials shall be phased out within a period of four years.

Thereafter, the production, importation, sale, distribution, provision or use of the plastic products shall be prohibited.

However, properly labeled flexible disposable plastic drinking straws for persons with special conditions shall be allowed, when no suitable reusable or compostable alternatives are available.

Under the bill, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) — in coordination with the National Solid Waste Management Commission (NSWMC) and in consultation with relevant departments or government agencies and stakeholders — shall formulate a phase out plan within six months upon effectivity of the measure.

The plan shall include the components — consumption, reduction and recovery program; producer responsibility schemes; reusable and compostable alternatives to single-use plastic products; and awareness-raising measures.

Within two years following the effectiveness of the measure, producers and importers of single-use plastics shall establish and start phasing-in extended responsibility programs aimed at effectively preventing plastic wastes from leaking to the environment.

For this purpose, each producer or importer shall recover or off-set and divert into value chains and value-adding useful products, whenever possible, at least 50 percent of their single-use plastic product footprint, three years after the bill becomes law.

Fines ranging from P50,000 to P1 million will be imposed on deliberate violations of pertinent provisions of the law, as well as falsification of required documents or misrepresentation of persons producing, importing or distributing single-use plastics and of commercial establishments.