The Government
has notified the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, in suppression of the earlier
Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011. The Minister of State
for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar, said here today
that the minimum thickness of plastic carry bags has been increased from 40
microns to 50 microns. He stated that 15, 000 tonnes of plastic waste is
generated every day, out of which 9, 000 tonnes is collected and processed, but
6, 000 tonnes of plastic waste is not being collected. Shri Javadekar also
said that the rules, which were admissible upto municipal areas, have now been
extended to all villages. The Minister said that notifying the new Plastic
Waste Management Rules is a part of the revamping of all Waste Management Rules.
“This will help in achieving the vision of our Prime Minister of Swacchh Bharat
and cleanliness is the essence of health and tourism”, Shri Javadekar added.
The
draft rules, namely the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2015 were published by
the Government of India vide G.S.R. 423(E), dated
the 25th May, 2015 in the Gazette of
India, inviting public objections and suggestions. The Plastic Waste
Management Rules, 2016 aim to:
·
Increase minimum thickness of plastic
carry bags from 40 to 50 microns and stipulate minimum thickness of 50 micron
for plastic sheets also to facilitate collection and recycle of plastic waste,
·
Expand the jurisdiction of applicability
from the municipal area to rural areas, because plastic has reached rural areas
also;
·
To bring in the responsibilities of
producers and generators, both in plastic waste management system and to introduce collect back system of plastic waste by the
producers/brand owners, as per extended producers responsibility;
·
To introduce collection of
plastic waste management fee through pre-registration of the producers, importers
of plastic carry bags/multilayered packaging and vendors selling the same for
establishing the waste management system;
·
To promote use of plastic
waste for road construction as per
Indian Road Congress guidelines or energy recovery, or waste to oil etc. for
gainful utilization of waste and also address the waste disposal issue; to
entrust more responsibility on waste generators, namely payment of user charge
as prescribed by local authority, collection and handing over of waste by the
institutional generator, event organizers.
An
eco-friendly product, which is a complete substitute of the plastic in all uses,
has not been found till date. In the absence of a suitable alternative, it
is impractical and undesirable to impose a blanket ban on the use of plastic
all over the country. The real challenge is to improve plastic waste management
systems.
In addition, the expected
outcome from the new rules includes:
(i) Increase in the
thickness of carry bags and plastic sheets
Increasing the thickness of plastic carry bags from 40 to 50 micron
and stipulation of 50 micron thickness for plastic sheets is likely to increase
the cost by about 20 %. Hence, the tendency to provide free carry bags will
come down and collection by the waste-pickers also increase to some extent.
ii) Collect
back system
The producers, importers and brand owners who introduce the
plastic carry bags, multi-layered plastic sachet, or pouches, or packaging in
the market within a period of six months from the date of publication of these
rules, need to establish a system for collecting back the plastic waste
generated due to their products. They shall work out modalities for waste
collection system based on Extended Producers Responsibility and involving
State Urban Development Departments, either individually or collectively,
through their own distribution channel or through the local body concerned.
This plan of collection has to be submitted to the State Pollution Control
Boards while applying for consent to Establish or Operate or Renewal. The
producers / brand owners whose consent has been renewed before the notification
of these rules shall submit such plan within one year from the date of
notification of these rules and implement within two years thereafter.
The
introduction of the collect back system of waste
generated from various products by the producers/brand owners of those products
will improve the collection of plastic waste, its reuse/ recycle.
(iii) Phasing
out of manufacture and use of non-
recyclable multilayered plastic
Manufacture
and use of non-recyclable multilayered plastic if any should be phased out in two
years’ time.
(iv) Responsibility of waste generator
All institutional generators
of plastic waste, shall segregate and store the waste generated by them in
accordance with the Solid Waste Management Rules, and handover segregated
wastes to authorized waste processing or disposal facilities or deposition centers,
either on its own or through the authorized waste collection agency.
All waste generators shall
pay such user fee, or charge, as may be specified in the bye-laws of the local
bodies for plastic waste management, such as waste collection, or operation of
the facility thereof, etc.;
Every
person responsible for organising an event in open space, which involves service
of food stuff in plastic, or multilayered packaging, shall segregate and manage
the waste generated during such events, in accordance with the Solid Waste
Management Rules.
(v) Responsibility
of local bodies and Gram Panchayat
The
local bodies shall be responsible for setting up,
operationalisation and co-ordination of the waste management system and for
performing associated functions.
(vi) Responsibility of retailers and
street vendors
Retailers
or street vendors shall not sell, or provide commodities to consumers in carry
bags, or plastic sheet, or multilayered packaging, which are not manufactured
and labelled or marked, as prescribed under these rules.
Every
retailer, or street vendor, selling or providing commodities in, plastic carry
bags or multilayered packaging or plastic sheets, or like, or covers, made of
plastic sheets which are not manufactured, or labelled, or marked, in
accordance with these rules shall be liable to pay such fines, as specified
under the bye-laws of the local bodies.
(vii) Pre-
registration fee
The shopkeepers and street vendors willing to provide
plastic carry bags for dispensing any commodity shall register with local body.
The local body shall, within a period of six months from the date of final
publication of these rules on the Official Gazette of India notification of
these rules, by notification, or an order under their appropriate state statute
or byelaws shall make provisions for such registration on payment of plastic
waste management fee of minimum Rs. 48, 000/- @ Rs. 4,000/- per month.
The concerned local body may prescribe higher plastic waste management fee,
depending upon the production, or sale capacity. The registered shopkeepers
shall display at prominent place that plastic carry bags are given on payment.
Only the registered shopkeepers, or street vendors
shall be eligible to provide plastic carry bags for dispensing the commodities.
The
local body shall utilize the amount paid by the customers for the carry bags
exclusively for the sustainability of the waste management system within their
jurisdictions.
The introduction of
provision to collect fee from the producers,
importers of plastic carry bags / multilayered packaging and vendors selling
the same, will strengthen the financial status of local authorities and improve
Plastic Waste Management System.
(viii) Reuse of
plastic waste
The options
on reuse of plastic in various applications namely, road construction, waste to
oil, waste to energy will enhance the recycling of plastic.
(ix) Land for
waste management facility
The
responsibility to provide land for establishing waste management facility has
been made to the Department with business allocation
of land allotment in the State Government. This would eliminate the issue of
getting land for the waste management facility.
The Ministry
had initially notified the Recycled Plastic Manufacture and Usage Rules in 1999,
which was mainly on manufacturing and usage of Plastic carry bags. It is specified
that the minimum thickness of plastic bags should be of 20 microns. The
Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 laid down certain conditions
for manufacturing, stocking, sale and use of plastic carry bags and sachets,
which were required to be monitored and implemented by the State Pollution
Control Boards/ Municipal Authorities. It specified that the minimum thickness
of plastic bags should be of 40 microns. This was to facilitate its collection
and recycle. However, the implementation of these rules was not so effective
because the ambit of these rules was limited to notified municipal areas
whereas today, the plastic has reached to our rural areas also. There were no
provisions on responsibility of waste generators. The rules did not address the
promotion of conversion of waste to useful resources. Though, it provided for Extended Producers Responsibility for the establishment
of waste management system, pricing of carry bags etc. those were not exercised
by the local authorities as it was simply left at the discretion of municipal
authorities.
To implement these rules more effectively and to
give thrust on plastic waste minimization, source segregation, recycling,
involving waste pickers, recyclers and waste processors in collection of plastic
waste and adopt polluter pays principle for the sustainability of the waste
management system, the Central Government reviewed the existing rules and
drafted revised rules. Stakeholders’
consultation meets were organized in New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata wherein
major Associations, industrial units, experts in various fields were invited.
Consultative meetings with relevant State governments, State Pollution Control
Boards were also held on these draft Rules. The suggestions / objections (238 in number) were received on these
draft rules and have been examined by the Working
Group. Based on the recommendations of the Working Group, now, the Plastic Waste
Management Rules, 2016 have come into force.
Plastic has multiple uses and the physical and chemical properties lead to commercial success.
However, the indiscriminate disposal of plastic has become a major threat to
the environment. In
particular, the plastic carry bags are the biggest contributors of littered
waste and every year, millions of plastic bags end up in to the environment
vis-a-vis soil, water bodies, water courses, etc and it takes an average of one
thousand years to decompose completely. Therefore, to the address the issue of scientific plastic waste management, new
regulations namely, the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011
were notified in 2011, which included plastic waste management.
*****
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