The Philippines has begun generating surplus plastics under its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law as companies exceed mandated recovery targets, prompting the government to accelerate incentives and integrate informal waste workers into the country's growing circular economy system.
EPR Implementation Progress
Speaking during a panel discussion on scaling EPR systems in Southeast Asia at the Asean-European Union Business Summit on Thursday, May 7, 2026, Jonas Leones, undersecretary for policy, planning and international affairs at the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said the country's plastic recovery efforts are now outpacing existing recycling capacity.
"We have been successfully collecting and diverting plastics. In fact, we have exceeded targets required by the EPR law every year," Leones said. "There is a lot of surplus plastic already."
EPR is a policy approach holding manufacturers responsible for the entire lifecycle of their products, particularly post-consumer disposal. It shifts waste management burdens from governments to producers, promoting a circular economy by encouraging sustainable product design and recycling.
The Philippines became one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to adopt mandatory EPR legislation, requiring large enterprises to recover increasing volumes of plastic packaging waste. The law forms part of the government's broader push toward a circular economy model that promotes reuse, recycling and waste reduction.
Infrastructure and Technology Needs
Leones said the next challenge is developing technologies and infrastructure that can process the growing volume of recovered plastics and keep materials within the production cycle longer.
"We need technologies available so that we can ensure that we prolong the reusability of plastics," he said.
Incentives for Compliance
The DENR official added that the government is now finalizing incentives for companies complying with EPR requirements in a bid to attract more investments into recycling and waste management infrastructure.
According to Leones, the DENR is coordinating with the Department of Finance on a joint administrative order that would provide incentives to EPR-compliant firms.
"We're gaining headway," he said, noting discussions are focused on clarifying auditing and implementation concerns.
Industry groups have long pushed for fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to help narrow the price gap between recycled and virgin plastics, particularly recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), commonly used in beverage bottles.
During the same panel, Antonio Del Rosario, president of Coca-Cola Philippines, said incentives are crucial to creating stronger demand for recycled materials and encouraging more investments in circular economy infrastructure.
Coca-Cola Philippines operates a bottle-to-bottle recycling facility in Cavite and works with informal waste collectors and sari-sari stores to improve collection systems.
"It's no longer business as usual," Del Rosario said, stressing that circularity has become part of the company's long-term business strategy.
Inclusion of Informal Waste Workers
A major focus of the discussion was the role of informal waste workers, who remain central to plastic collection systems across the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
Leones acknowledged that the sector has historically been "neglected" despite its major contribution to waste recovery.
"This sector has been neglected or ignored," he said. "We value their contribution to the supply chain, but in terms of providing incentives, we are forgetting this informal sector."
The DENR said it is now working to better integrate waste pickers and informal recyclers into formal EPR systems by linking corporate recovery programs with local government solid waste management plans.
Global investors and sustainability advocates at the forum also emphasized that integrating informal workers — rather than displacing them — will be critical to building an effective circular economy in the region.
Rob Kaplan, founder and chief executive officer of Circulate Capital, said informal waste workers in cities such as Manila play a vital role in collecting and sorting high-quality recyclable materials.
"The opportunity here is to help raise everybody up through the circular economy," Kaplan said.
