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” (EPR) 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 on by December 1 at talks in South Korea.The Philippines, with a population of 120 million, generates some 1.7 million metric tons 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 programmes.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 licences.- ‘Manna from heaven’ -The law hit its 2023 target for removal of plastic waste, Environment Undersecretary Jonas Leones told AFP.It 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 organisations”, many of which use a mechanism called plastic credits.These allow companies to buy a certificate that a metric tonne of plastic has been removed from the environment and either recycled, upcycled or “co-processed” — burned for energy.PCX Markets, one of the country’s biggest players, offers local credits priced from around $100 for collection and co-processing of mixed plastics to over $500 for collection and recycling of ocean-bound PET plastic. Most are certified according to a standard administered by sister organisation PCX Solutions.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 street sweeper Marita Blanco told AFP.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 kilogram (2.2 pounds).She then sells them at a 25 percent mark-up to 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.”- ‘Still linear’ -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 told AFP.”Behavioural 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 told AFP.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 co-processing, 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 behavioural change for everyone to make sure that this happens.”

China and Mexico lashed out Tuesday after Donald Trump threatened to begin his presidency with an immediate trade war against the top three US economic partners.Trump made his threat in social media posts, announcing huge import tariffs against neighbors Canada and Mexico and also rival China if they don’t stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling into the United States.China responded that “no one will win a trade war,” while Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum warned that “for every tariff, there will be a response in kind.”A Canadian government source said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Trump and had a “productive” discussion, without giving further detail.Such tariffs threaten to disrupt the global economy, deepen already fierce tensions with China and upend relations with the United States’ two huge neighbors.Nervous stock markets saw “volatile trading conditions” as they digested the news, said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at City Index.On his Truth Social platform, Trump said late Monday that he would enact the tariffs the moment he takes office on January 20 if his — vaguely worded — demands were not met.The posts signal Trump’s intention to return to the governing style of his first presidency, when he regularly shocked Washington and US partners with abrupt, major policy shifts which he announced on social media.They also confirmed that Trump is serious about his major campaign promise to use US economic muscle as leverage on issues having little to do with trade — namely his claim that the United States is under siege by foreign crime and dangerous migrants.On Tuesday, Trump named two important figures to his economic team: Jamieson Greer as his trade representative and Kevin Hassett as his top economic advisor, heading the White House National Economic Council.Both had roles in his first administration, with Greer serving as chief of staff to former US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.”I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 percent tariff on ALL products coming into the United States,” Trump earlier posted.”This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” he said.In another post, Trump said he would be slapping China with a 10 percent tariff, “above any additional Tariffs,” because the world’s second biggest economy was failing to execute fentanyl smugglers.Liu Pengyu, spokesman for China’s embassy in the United States, told AFP that “China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature.”Mexico’s Sheinbaum fired back at Trump, saying his tariffs diplomacy was “not acceptable” and based on erroneous claims.”It is not with threats or tariffs that the migration phenomenon will be stopped, nor the consumption of drugs in the United States,” she said.Sheinbaum pointed out that the Mexican narcotics industry largely exists to serve demand in the United States.”Seventy percent of the illegal weapons seized from criminals in Mexico come from your country,” she said. “Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours.”- Bluster or serious? -William Reinsch, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Trump’s online threats may be bluster — a strategy of “threaten, and then negotiate.”However, Trump’s first White House term was marked by an aggressive and protectionist trade agenda that also targeted China, Mexico and Canada, alongside Europe.While in office, Trump launched an all-out trade war with China, imposing significant tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods. China responded with retaliatory tariffs on American products, particularly affecting US farmers.Economists say tariffs can hurt US growth and fuel inflation, since they are paid by importers bringing the goods into the United States, who often pass those costs on to consumers.Trump has said he will put his commerce secretary designate Howard Lutnick, a China hawk, in charge of trade policy.