PET bottles, wrappers likely to escape plastic ban

Bottles for storing drinking waters, cold drinks and packaging wrappers are likely to be spared from the Centre's ambitious plan to phase out single-use plastic as the government works on alternatives.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest is formulating a “national framework for implementing extended producer responsibility” that will provide an opportunity to brand owners and plastic manufacturing companies to take back their products and recycle.

“PET/PETE bottles used for packaging beverages including water may not require prohibitive action and will come under the ambit of recycling/processing channels under EPR,” said an environment ministry note that has been shared with the states last month.

On multi-layered packaging, the note said since replacement technologies are still not available to the manufacturers of products that use such packaging, it may not be suitable to phase out or prohibit the use of such packaging materials at this stage.

Multi-layered plastic is commonly used in packaging most of the FMCG products including, snacks, biscuits, candy, tea, coffee, spices, and several other food items. The material is used by the industry to increase the shelf-life of food products.

Initially, the plan would focus on creating awareness, establish a collection and recycle chain, getting rid of plastics from government offices and encouraging the state governments and municipalities to implement the plastic waste management rules, 2016.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address declared the government's plan to eliminate single-use plastic, posing a big challenge to the environment, by 2022. The scheme was to be rolled out on October 2.

But in the last one and half months, none of the central departments have come out with any orders on the elimination plan but consultations within the departments as well as with the industry are going on to prepare the road-map.

The industry sought exemption for several products such as PET bottles, multi-layered plastic and packaging material for medicines. They also sought baseline assessment to identify the single-use plastics with substantial impact on the natural environment, along with the current causes, extent, and impacts of their mismanagement.

The environment ministry is nudging the States and UT administration to initially go after all plastic carry bags with or without handles, irrespective of thickness and size; plastic cutlery including plates, cups, glasses, straws, stirrers and cutlery and decorative items made out of thermocol (styrofoam).

According to a 2015 assessment by the Central Pollution Control Board, nearly 7% of India's municipal solid waste is plastic.

“The study estimates that around 25,940 tonnes per day of plastic waste is generated in India out of which around 15,600 tonnes (nearly 60%) gets recycled, leaving behind nearly 10,000 tonnes of plastics every day that ends up in the drains, rivers, seas, or simply as the litter that we see everywhere around us,” said Swati Singh Sambyal from the Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based non-governmental organisation.