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Draft EPR Notification: Plastic Packaging Waste

  • Posted By
    10Pointer
  • Categories
    Environment
  • Published
    15th Oct, 2021

Context

Recently, the Union Environment Ministry has come out with a draft notification for regulation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) under Plastic Waste Management rules 2016.

Key-highlights of the notification

  • Manufacturers' Authority: It authorizes manufacturers of plastic packaging materials to assemble all their products by 2024 and ensure that a small percentage of it is recycled and used in the next supply.
    • Producers of plastic will be obliged to declare to the government, via a centralised website, how much plastic they produce annually.
  • EPR certificates: It also clarified a system in which manufacturers and users of plastic packaging can collect certificates - called EPR certificates - and trade them.
    • EPR refers to a manufacturer's responsibility to properly treat a product (plastic packaging) until the end of its life.
    • Certificates will help organizations address their shortcomings in other organizations that have used recycled content in addition to their obligation.
  • End-of-Life Disposal
  • Only a piece of recyclable plastic - such as multi-purpose plastic - is suitable for end-of-life exposure such as road construction, electric waste, electric waste and cement.
  • Only measures set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) will be approved for disposal.

Classification of Plastic Packaging

  • Rigid Plastic: They are plastic products that do not give easily when pressed. There are lots of big, big things like grass chairs, buckets, small toys etc.
  • Flexible Plastic: Includes single or multilayer layer inserts (more than one layer with various types of plastic), plastic sheets and covers made of plastic paper, carry bags (including containers made of containers containing plastic), plastic bag or bags.
  • Multi-Layered Plastic Packaging: It is plastic with at least one layer of plastic and at least one layer of material other than plastic.

Targets

  • Companies will need to collect at least:
    • 35% of the target for 2021-22
    • 70% of the target for 2022-23
    • 100% target by 2024
  • By 2024, at least 50% of their solid plastic will need to be reused as it will make up 30% of their 2nd and 3rd grade plastic.
  • Each year you will see progressive goals and after 2026-27, 80% of their category 1 and 60% of the other two categories will need to be redesigned.
  • There are similar, slightly different, objectives for companies that use packaging and importing materials.

Verifying, please be patient.