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Correspondent

21 August 2024 at 10:20:16 am

Kaleidoscope

People throng the Kedarnath Temple premises as fresh snowfall blankets the surrounding mountains in Rudraprayag on Friday. A woman and a child at Dussehra Ghat after rainfall near Taj Mahal on Friday. A fisherman casts a net into the River Ganga in Prayagraj on Friday. Students create a floor art at Jorasanko Thakurbari museum on the eve of Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary in Kolkata on Friday. A vendor displays jackfruit during the Mango and Jackfruit Mela organised by the Karnataka...

Kaleidoscope

People throng the Kedarnath Temple premises as fresh snowfall blankets the surrounding mountains in Rudraprayag on Friday. A woman and a child at Dussehra Ghat after rainfall near Taj Mahal on Friday. A fisherman casts a net into the River Ganga in Prayagraj on Friday. Students create a floor art at Jorasanko Thakurbari museum on the eve of Rabindranath Tagore's birth anniversary in Kolkata on Friday. A vendor displays jackfruit during the Mango and Jackfruit Mela organised by the Karnataka Horticulture Department at Cubbon Park in Bengaluru on Friday.

How India’s Plastic Waste Rules Changed After 2016

The new plastic waste management norms favour ease of doing business but raise concerns over environmental degradation and public health.

In my last article, I discussed the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. These rules have undergone several amendments from time to time in order to address emerging concerns and practical challenges. In this article, we will learn about these amendments and the reasons behind them. Soon after their implementation in 2016, the Plastic Waste Management Rules faced various challenges in terms of implementation and compliance. There were representations from various stakeholders regarding these issues. Based on those representations, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) constituted a committee to resolve these issues. The amendments are based on the recommendations submitted by the committee to the Ministry.


2018 Highlights

The phasing out of Multi-layered Plastic (MLP) is now applicable only to MLPs that are “non-recyclable or non-energy recoverable or have no alternate use”. MLP is most widely used in the food packaging industry. You might remember that sachets or pouches containing gutkha, tobacco, and many packaged snack foods, as well as chocolate wrappers, are made up of MLP.


The amended Rules prescribe a central registration system for the registration of producers, importers, and brand owners. The system will be developed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). A national registry has been established for producers having a presence in more than two states. A state-level registration has been prescribed for smaller producers and brand owners operating within one or two states.


The registration mechanism should be automated. It should also take into account the ease of doing business for producers, recyclers, and manufacturers.


Many significant provisions of the earlier Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, have now been discarded or diluted. Explicit pricing of carry bags, as mentioned in the 2016 Rules, has been omitted. Multi-layered plastics were supposed to be phased out. However, these have been given a fresh lease of life by easing the relevant norms.


Only those MLPs that are “non-recyclable or non-energy recoverable or have no alternate use” are now required to be phased out. This leaves hardly any category of multi-layered plastics to be phased out effectively. Any product can be claimed to have some alternate use in order to escape the restriction.


It appears that the new norms have been introduced with an eye on ease of doing business. However, no consideration seems to have been given to the further deterioration and degradation of the environment and public health. The EPR also seems to have been diluted.


2022 Changes

Under the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022, a carry bag made of virgin or recycled plastic shall not be less than 75 microns in thickness till December 31, 2022. Thereafter, the prescribed minimum thickness has been increased to 120 microns. The move is aimed at discouraging the use of thinner plastic carry bags.


Carry bags or plastic packaging made of recycled plastics may also be used for packaging foodstuffs, subject to the standards and guidelines prescribed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). This provision seeks to regulate the use of recycled plastics in food-related packaging.


The amended Rules further provide that sachets using plastic material shall not be used for storing, packing, or selling gutkha, tobacco, or pan masala products. This restriction continues to remain an important provision under the plastic waste management framework.


The Rules also prescribe that a plastic sheet, which is not an integral part of multilayered packaging, and plastic covers used for packaging or wrapping commodities shall not be less than 50 microns in thickness. However, an exception has been provided in cases where such thickness impairs the functionality of the product or packaging material. There are a few more amendments about which I will write in my next article. Till then, have a great weekend!


(The write is an environmentalist. Views personal.)

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