Plastic Waste Management

The extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) regime is under implementation in Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, according to which it is the responsibility of Producers, Importers, and Brand-owners to ensure processing of their plastic packaging waste through recycling, re-use, or end of life disposal (such as co-processing/Waste-to-energy/Plastic-oil/roadmaking/industrial-composting).
In order to streamline the implementation process of EPR, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, in its fourth Amendment to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, dated February 16, 2022, notified ‘Guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility for Plastic Packaging’ in the Schedule II of the Rules. As per these guidelines, Producers, Importers, and Brand Owners (PIBOs) shall have to register through the online centralized portal developed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
Accordingly, this portal has been developed to register PIBOs who are operating in more than two States with CPCB and those operating in one or two States/UTs shall be registered with the concerned State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs). PWPs shall also have to register with the concerned SPCB/PCC in accordance with the provisions of Section 13(3) of the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 on this centralized portal developed by CPCB.
The EPR Portal for Plastic Packaging provides provision for the registration of PIBOs/ PWPS in accordance with the notified EPR Guidelines. The portal will help in improving accountability, traceability, and transparency of fulfillment of EPR Obligations. The portal is planned to have seven modules, which allow registration of PWPs and PIBOs, issue certificates by PWPs & exchange of credits, allow real-time monitoring of transactions between PIBOs and PWPs, allow levy of environmental compensation and provide system-generated reports, and facilitate filing of annual returns for the stakeholders.
This portal has commenced with two modules for the registration of PIBOs and PWPs respectively. The remaining modules will be integrated shortly.

Categories of plastic packaging under EPR:-

  1. Rigid plastic packaging
  2. Flexible plastic packaging of single layer or multilayer (more than one layer with different types of plastic)
  3. Multilayered plastic packaging (at least one layer of plastic and at least one layer of material other than plastic)
  4. Plastic sheets or like used for packaging as well as carry bags made of compostable plastics

EPR targets:-

Eligible Quantity in MT (Q) on which PIBOs target is decided shall be the average weight of virgin plastic packaging material (category-wise) purchased and introduced in the market in the last two financial years (A) plus the average quantity of (B) of pre-consumer plastic packaging in the last two financial years.

Further, reducing the quantity of plastic packaging supplied directly to the entities for Brand Owners (C) other than those, which are micro and small enterprises in the previous financial year Q (in MT) = (A + B) – C The EPR Target shall be determined, category-wise, as given below:

CategoryYearEPR Target (as a percentage of Q – category-wise)
I2021-2225%
II2022-2370%
III2023-24100%

In the initial years, PIBOs obligation targets are low, which is to focus on strengthening the higher participation of stakeholders. Going forward the targets are extended, to strengthen higher reuse and recycling of plastics to lead to circularity in the system.

Responsibilities of PIBOS:-

PIBO stands for producer, importer, and brand owner. If you identify as PIBO and have operations in India that use plastic packaging as part of your operation, irrespective of your turnover or scale of operations you fall under the obligation of EPR. Under the current framework of EPR, PIBO is responsible to

  • Register at EPR Portal
  • Submit their Action plan
  • Fulfill obligations for:-
    1. Recycling
    2. Use of Recycled content
    3. Reuse
    4. End-of-life disposal
    5. Optional engagement in the collection and recovery of plastics
    6. Submit annual returns
    7. Provide proof of certificates (Plastic credits)
    8. PIBOs can engage with PROs or other agencies separately to fulfill their targets but reporting and responsibility to fulfill the obligations is complete for PIBO

Plastic Waste Processing:-

“Plastic Waste Processors” means recyclers and entities engaged in using plastic waste for energy (waste to energy), and converting it to oil (waste to oil), industrial composting

  • Material Recovery Facility
  • Recycling Plant Shredder
  • Recycled Product
  • Co-processing Unit
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