New guidelines to put recycling onus on plastic manufacturers
The Union government is working on new guidelines for extended producer responsibility (EPR), a globally standardised plastic pollution policy under which the manufacturer is responsible for recycling or disposing of plastics, officials and industry representatives told HT.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for freeing the country of single-use plastic items by 2022. To this end, the government is pushing manufacturers to put in place evidence-based mechanisms so that authorities can track what recycling firms undertake as EPR obligations, one of the officials cited above said. The concept of EPR was introduced by amending the Plastic Waste Management Rules in 2016, but there are currently no comprehensive processes or guidelines that manufacturers or brands must follow. So, there are no fixed recycling targets.
Interministerial consultations are currently on to frame a broadbased policy on recycling, managing and disposing of single-use plastics, including stricter producer responsibility, a second official said.
Following a series of consultations last month, the government has asked industry associations, who together make up 80% of single-use plastic items sold, to establish a system that can be a working model for the whole of the country.
“There is no limit on how much plastic needs to be recycled but producers must have a system in place and get started immediately,” the first official quoted above said. Such a system needs to be evidence-based and quantifiable. The EPR guidelines that the government is working on will be fine-tuned according to evidence from the ground and what best suits the country, the official added.
There are two popular global models: one by the UN and another by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). OECD, a club of 33 advanced economies, defines EPR as a “policy approach under which producers are given a significant responsibility – financial or physical – for the treatment or disposal of postconsumer products”.
THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO COMPREHENSIVE GUIDELINES THAT MANUFACTURERS OR BRANDS MUST FOLLOW. SO, THERE ARE NO FIXED RECYCLING TARGETS