Page 86 - Plastics News December 2019

iNtErNAtioNAL NEws

Manila House panel OKs P20 per UK’s Liberal Democrats pledge

kilo tax on single-use plastic bags to ban non recyclable SUP within
3 years

he House of Representatives’ Ways and Means
Tcommittee approved a bill imposing a P20(Philippine he Liberal Democrats have announced that they will
Peso) excise tax on every kilo of single-use plastic bags Timplement a ban on all non-recyclable single-use
removed from the place of production or the Customs plastics, aiming for complete elimination within three
warehouse. Committee years, at the party’s manifesto launch on 20 November.
chairman and Albay 2nd
District Rep. Joey Salceda The party’s manifesto for the coming general election,
said House Bill No. 781, entitled ‘Stop Brexit, build a brighter future’, also
once signed into law, outlines plans to introduce a 70 per cent statutory
would generate a revenue recycling target in England, end plastic waste exports
of P4.8 billion on the first by 2030 and extend separate food waste collections to
year of implementation. at least 90 per cent of homes by 2024. As the document’s
The proposed law also title suggests, much of the Liberal Democrats’ 2019
has a minimal impact of manifesto focuses on revoking Article 50 to stop Brexit
P0.07 on sando plastic and remain in the EU, and the party says it will use the
bags, said Salceda. UK’s role in the EU to tackle the climate emergency
Salceda said they decided to tax single-use plastic carriers by setting a binding EU-wide net zero target of 2050.
first because taxing other types of plastics, especially Commenting on the prospect of leaving the European
sachets, may trigger an increase in the price of food Union, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson said: “We
and basic commodities like shampoo and toothpaste. know that will be bad for our economy, bad for our
“It’s just the first step. The next step is a tax on primary NHS and bad for our environment.” The manifesto,
plastic packaging especially sachet since it accounts for criticises the Conservative Government’s record on
2/3 of solid waste and garbage,” Salceda said. “However the climate and includes a legally binding target to
if poverty goes single digit, we will include it possibly reduce the UK’s net greenhouse gas emissions to
in 3-4 years,” he added. The committee also agreed to zero by 2045 and a ten-year emergency programme
earmark 100 percent of the collections from the measure to set the UK on the path to carbon neutrality. The
to the solid waste management fund provided under party says it will establish a Department for Climate
Section 46 of Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid
Waste Management Act of 2000. A copy of the updated
bill authored by Nueva Ecija 1st District Rep. Estrellita
Suansing and Sultan Kudarat 2nd District Rep. Horacio
Suansing Jr. has yet to be released. Both chambers of
Congress would have to approve the proposed law before
it can be forwarded to President Rodrigo Duterte for his
consideration. Earlier Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte
proposed banning plastic, his spokesman said , which
could provide the impetus needed for the Congress of one
of the world’s top plastic polluters to pass environment
protection laws.The Philippines, which ranks among the
world’s worst ocean polluters, has a law on solid waste but Change and Natural Resources and appoint a cabinet-
it is poorly enforced and it does not regulate packaging level Chief Secretary for Sustainability in the Treasury
manufacturing. The Philippines ranked third in the world to coordinate government-wide climate action. The
for failing to deal with its plastics, according to a 2015 department would increase government expenditure
study by the University of Georgia, which said 81 percent on climate and environmental objectives, reaching at
of its plastics waste was mismanaged. least five per cent of the total within five years.

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