MANILA: Long one of the world’s top sources of ocean plastic, the Philippines is hoping new legislation requiring big companies to pay for waste solutions will help clean up its act.
Last year, its “Extended Producer Responsibility” statute came into force — the first in Southeast Asia to impose penalties on companies over plastic waste.
The experiment has shown both the promise and the pitfalls of the tool, which could be among the measures in a treaty to tackle plastic pollution that countries hope to agree this year.
The Philippines, with a population of 120 million, generates some 1.7 million metric tonnes of post-consumer plastic waste a year, according to the World Bank.
Of that, a third goes to landfills and dumpsites, with 35 percent discarded on open land.
The EPR law is intended to achieve “plastic neutrality” by forcing large businesses to reduce plastic pollution through product design and removing waste from the environment.
They are obliged to cover an initial 20 percent of their plastic packaging footprint, calculated based on the weight of plastic packaging they put into the market.
The obligation will rise to a ceiling of 80 percent by 2028.
The law covers a broad range of plastics, including flexible types that are commercially unviable for recycling and thus often go uncollected.
It does not however ban any plastics, including the popular but difficult to recover and recycle single-use sachets common in the Philippines.
So far, around half the eligible companies under the law have launched EPR programs.
Over a thousand more must do so by end-December or face fines of up to 20 million pesos ($343,000) and even revocation of their operating licenses.
The law removed 486,000 tonnes of plastic waste from the environment last year, Environment Undersecretary Jonas Leones said.
That topped the 2023 target and is “part of a broader strategy to reduce the environmental impact of plastic pollution, particularly given the Philippines’ status as one of the largest contributors to marine plastic waste globally.”
The law allows companies to outsource their obligations to “producer responsibility organizations,” many of which use a mechanism called plastic credits.
These allow companies to buy a certificate that a metric ton of plastic has been removed from the environment and either recycled, upcycled or “co-processed” — burned for energy.
PCX Solutions, one of the country’s biggest players, offers local credits priced around $100 for collection and co-processing of mixed plastics to over $500 for collection and recycling of ocean-bound PET plastic.
The model is intended to channel money into the underfunded waste collection sector and encourage collection of plastic that is commercially unviable for recycling.
“It’s manna from heaven,” former streetsweeper Marita Blanco said.
A widowed mother-of-five, Blanco lives in Manila’s low-income San Andres district and buys plastic bottles, styrofoam and candy wrappers for two pesos (3.4 US cents) a kilogramme (2.2 pounds).
She then sells them at a 25 percent mark-up to US charity Friends of Hope, which works with PCX Solutions to process them.
“I didn’t know that there was money in garbage,” she said.
“If I do not look down on the task of picking up garbage, my financial situation will improve.”
Friends of Hope managing director Ilusion Farias said the project was making a visible difference to an area often strewn with discarded plastic.
“Two years ago, I think you would have seen a lot dirtier street,” she said.
“Behavioral change is really slow, and it takes a really long time.”
Among those purchasing credits is snack producer Mondelez, which has opted to jump directly to “offsetting” 100 percent of its plastic footprint.
“It costs company budgets... but that’s really something that we just said we would commit to do for the environment,” Mondelez Philippines corporate and government affairs official Caitlin Punzalan said.
But while companies have lined up to buy plastic credits, there has been less movement on stemming the flow of new plastic, including through redesign.
“Upstream reduction is not really easy,” said PCX Solutions managing director Stefanie Beitien.
“There is no procurement department in the world that accepts a 20 percent higher packaging price just because it’s the right thing to do.”
And while PCX credits cannot be claimed against plastic that is landfilled, they do allow for waste to be burned, with the ash then used for cement.
“It’s still linear, not circular, because you’re destroying the plastic and you’re still generating virgin plastic,” acknowledged Leones of the environment ministry.
Still, the law remains a “very strong policy,” according to Floradema Eleazar, an official with the UN Development Programme.
But “we will not see immediate impacts right now, or tomorrow,” she said.
“It would require really massive behavioral change for everyone to make sure that this happens.”
To tackle plastic scourge, Philippines makes companies pay
https://arab.news/rm9qt
To tackle plastic scourge, Philippines makes companies pay
- The Philippines generates some 1.7 million metric tonnes of post-consumer plastic waste a year
- New law intends to achieve ‘plastic neutrality’ by forcing large businesses to reduce plastic pollution through product design
Texas offers Trump land on US-Mexico border for potential mass deportations
McALLEN, Texas: Texas is offering a parcel of rural ranchland along the US-Mexico border to use as a staging area for potential mass deportations under President-elect Donald Trump.
The property, which Texas originally purchased last month, is located in rural Starr County in the Rio Grande Valley. Republican Dawn Buckingham, the Texas Land Commissioner, sent a letter Nov. 14 to Trump extending the offer.
“We do hear through back channels that they are taking a look at it and considering it. But we just want them to know we’re a good partner. We’re here. We want to be helpful,” Buckingham told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday.
The property has no paved roads and sits in a county with one public hospital and limited local resources. But Buckingham stressed its location.
“We feel like this is actually very well-located. The land is very flat there. It’s adjacent to major airports. It’s also adjacent to a bridge over the river,” Buckingham said. “So if it’s helpful, then I would love to partner up with the federal government. And if it’s not, then we’ll continue to look to ways to be helpful to them.”
The land offer is the latest illustration of a sharp divide between states and local governments on whether to support or resist Trump’s plans for mass deportations of migrants living in the US illegally. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to become a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities to carry out deportations.
Texas leaders have long backed aggressive measures on the border to curb crossings, including installing razor-wire barriers and passing a law last year that would allow law enforcement to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally.
“By offering this newly-acquired 1400-acre property to the incoming Trump Administration for the construction of a facility for the processing, detention, and coordination of what will be the largest deportation of violent criminals in our nation’s history, I stand united with President Donald Trump to ensure American families are protected,” Buckingham said in an earlier statement.
Trump has said he plans to begin his deportation efforts on the first day of his presidency. He frequently attacked illegal immigration during his campaign, linking a record spike in unauthorized border crossings to issues ranging from drug trafficking to high housing prices.
There are an estimated 11 million people in the country illegally. Questions remain about how people would be identified and where they would be detained.
The president-elect’s transition team did not say whether they would accept Texas’ offer but sent a statement.
“On day one, President Trump will marshal every lever of power to secure the border, protect their communities, and launch the largest mass deportation operation of illegal immigrant criminals in history,” Karoline Leavitt, the transition spokeswoman for Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, said Wednesday.
The Texas General Land Office did not disclose the amount paid for the land, but Buckingham stated the previous owner resisted the creation of a border wall.
A 1.5-mile (2.4 kilometer) stretch of border wall was built under Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2021 on that land. Buckingham said with the recent purchase, the state has created another easement for more border wall construction.
Haiti blasts comments from France’s Macron as ‘unfriendly and inappropriate’
PORT-AU-PRINCE: Haitian Foreign Minister Harvel Jean-Baptiste on Thursday met with French Ambassador Antoine Michon over what the ministry branded as “unfriendly and inappropriate” comments from the French president as he left the G20 summit in Brazil.
French President Emmanuel Macron had on Wednesday called the decision of the Carribean country’s transitional presidential council to oust the prime minister earlier this month as “completely dumb.”
NATO says new Russian missile will not alter course of Ukraine war
BRUSSELS: The experimental hypersonic intermediate-range missile Russia fired at Ukraine will not affect the course of the war nor NATO’s backing for Kyiv, a spokesperson for the US-led defense alliance said on Thursday.
“Deploying this capability will neither change the course of the conflict nor deter NATO Allies from supporting Ukraine,” said spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah, calling the launch “yet another example of Russia’s attacks against Ukrainian cities.”
Putin hints at strikes on West in ‘global’ Ukraine war
- Warns of retaliation after Ukraine’s allies granting permission for Kyiv to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian territory
- Putin spoke after Russia test-fired a new generation intermediate-range missile at Ukraine, hinting that was capable of unleashing a nuclear payload
- Washington saw no need to modify the United States’ own nuclear posture in response, says White House spokesperson
DNIPRO, Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the conflict in Ukraine had characteristics of a “global” war and did not rule out strikes on Western countries.
The Kremlin strongman spoke out after a day of frayed nerves, with Russia test-firing a new generation intermediate-range missile at Ukraine — which Putin hinted was capable of unleashing a nuclear payload.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky branded the strike a major ramping up of the “scale and brutality” of the war by a “crazy neighbor,” while Kyiv’s main backer the United States said that Russia was to blame for escalating the conflict “at every turn.”
Intermediate-range missiles typically have a reach of up to 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles) — enough to make good on Putin’s threat of striking the West.
In a defiant address to the nation, Russia’s president railed at Ukraine’s allies granting permission for Kyiv to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian territory, warning of retaliation.
In recent days Ukraine has fired US and UK-supplied missiles at Russian territory for the first time, escalating already sky-high tensions in the brutal nearly three-year-long conflict.
“We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities,” Putin said.
He said the US-sent Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and British Storm Shadow payloads were shot down by Moscow’s air defenses, adding: “The goals that the enemy obviously set were not achieved.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov did, however, say Moscow informed Washington of the missile’s launch half an hour before it was fired through an automatic nuclear de-escalation hotline, in remarks cited in state media.
He earlier said Russia was doing everything to avoid an atomic conflict, having updated its nuclear doctrine this week.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that Washington saw no need to modify the United States’ own nuclear posture in response.
Ukraine had earlier accused Russia of firing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time in history — a claim later downplayed by Washington.
The Ukrainian air force said Moscow had launched the missile as part of a barrage toward Dnipro, where local authorities said an infrastructure facility was hit and two civilians were wounded.
Putin said that Russia had carried out “testing in combat conditions of one of the newest Russian... missile systems” named “Oreshnik.”
Criticizing the global response to the strike — “final proof that Russia definitely does not want peace” — Zelensky warned that other countries could become targets for Putin too.
“It is necessary to urge Russia to a true peace, which is possible only through force,” the Ukrainian leader said in his evening address.
“Otherwise, there will be relentless Russian strikes, threats and destabilization, and not only against Ukraine.”
The attack on Dnipro comes just days after several foreign embassies shuttered temporarily in the Ukrainian capital, citing the threat of a large-scale strike.
“It is another example of reckless behavior from Russia,” a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters.
The spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Stephane Dujarric, said the new missile’s deployment was “another concerning and worrying development,” warning the war was “going in the wrong direction.”
Yet a US official played down the threat, saying on condition of anonymity that Russia “likely possesses only a handful of these” experimental missiles.
The head of the Dnipropetrovsk region where the city of Dnipro is located said the Russian aerial bombardment damaged a rehabilitation center and several homes, as well as an industrial enterprise.
“Two people were wounded — a 57-year-old man was treated on the scene and a 42-year-old woman was hospitalized,” said the official, Sergiy Lysak.
Russia and Ukraine have escalated their use of long-range missiles in recent days since Washington gave Kyiv permission to use its ATACMS against military targets inside Russia — a long-standing Ukrainian request.
British media meanwhile reported on Wednesday that Kyiv had launched UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Russia after being given the green light from London.
With ranges of 300 and 250 kilometers respectively, both missile systems’ reach is far dwarfed by the experimental intermediate-range system fired by Russia.
Russia’s envoy to London on Thursday said that meant Britain was “now directly involved” in the Ukraine war, with Andrei Kelin telling Sky News “this firing cannot happen” without UK and NATO support.
But the White House’s Jean-Pierre countered that it was Russia who was behind the rising tensions, pointing to the reported deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to help Moscow fight off a Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s border Kursk region.
“The escalation at every turn is coming from Russia,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that the United States had warned Moscow against involving “another country in another part of the world” — referring to Pyongyang.
The defense ministry in Moscow said Thursday its air-defense systems had downed two Storm Shadows, without saying whether they had come down on Russian territory or in occupied Ukraine.
The missile escalation is coming at a critical moment on the ground for Ukraine, as its defenses buckle under Russian pressure across the sprawling front line.
Russia claimed deeper advances in the war-battered Donetsk region, announcing on Thursday that its forces had captured another village close to Kurakhove, closing in on the town after months of steady advances.
Moscow’s defense ministry said Russian forces had taken the small village of Dalne, five kilometers (three miles) south of Kurakhove.
Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said that 26 people had been wounded in another strike on the town of Kryvyi Rig, where Zelensky was born.
Mali junta appoints general to replace sacked civilian PM
BAMAKO: Mali’s junta has named military officer Gen. Abdoulaye Maiga the new prime minister after sacking civilian Premier Choguel Kokalla Maiga a day earlier following his criticism of the military leaders.
Abdoulaye Maiga had, until now, served as government spokesman in the West African country, which is plagued by extremist and separatist violence and has been led by the military since back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.
“Major General Abdoulaye Maiga is appointed prime minister,” said a decree issued by junta chief Gen. Assimi Goita and read out by the secretary general of the presidency on state television station ORTM.
Abdoulaye Maiga was not in the first group of colonels who overthrew the civilian president in August 2020 and who have since been promoted to generals, but he quickly joined them.
His appointment to replace civilian prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga confirms the military’s hold on power.
In June 2022, the junta promised to organize elections and hand over power to civilians by the end of March 2024 but later postponed elections indefinitely. Gen. Maiga will have to form a new government to replace the one sacked on Wednesday, which the junta closely controlled. Some key junta figures, such as Defense Minister Gen. Sadio Camara and Minister of Reconciliation General Ismael Wague, were Cabinet members.
