Hindustan Times (Patiala)

New guidelines to put recycling onus on plastic manufactur­ers

- Zia Haq ■ zia.haq@htlive.com

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

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