Extended Producer Responsibility Guidelines to Strengthen Plastic Packaging Waste and Allow for Development of the Waste Management Sector

· Extended Producer Responsibility Guidelines to Strengthen Circular Economy of Plastic Packaging Waste and Allow for Development of the Waste Management Sector through Involvement of Formal and Informal Sector

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on 13 February, 2023 informed that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the Guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for plastic packaging vide Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022, on 16th February 2022. The Guidelines stipulate mandatory targets on EPR, recycling of plastic packaging waste, reuse of rigid plastic packaging and use of recycled plastic content.

The year-wise target for minimum level of recycling of plastic waste across different categories of plastic packaging is given below:

Year	Target (% of Extended Producer Responsibility)
2024-25	30-50
2025-26	40-60
2026-27	50-70
2027-28 onwards	60-80

In the written reply it was stated that the enforceable obligation of minimum level of recycling of plastic packaging waste collected under extended producer responsibility guidelines will further strengthen circular economy of plastic packaging waste and allow for development of the waste management sector through involvement of formal/informal sector. As per Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, as amended, Central Pollution Control Board and State Pollution Control Board/Pollution Control Committees, as required, enforce the provisions of the rules. Direction was issued on 6th October 2020 to all SPCBs/PCCs regarding registration of plastic brand owners/ producers and fulfilment of EPR as per provision of PWM Rules.

It was also stated that the centralized EPR portal for plastic packaging has a separate module for sale and purchase of surplus EPR certificates. The total number of registered producers, importers and brand owners on the centralized EPR portal for plastic packaging is 5000 with an EPR target of 22.37 Lakh TPA. The total number of registered plastic waste processors is 1602.