<h1 class="ql-align-center">Plastic Waste Recycling targets</h1><h2> </h2><h2>Context:</h2> <ul><li>Recently, the Environment Ministry has&nbsp;issued draft rules for plastic management&nbsp;and the notification is expected to come into force by December 6, 2021.</li></ul> <h2>About:</h2> <ul><li>Environment Ministry has issued draft rules that mandate producers of plastic packaging material to collect all of their produce by 2024 and ensure that a minimum percentage of it be recycled as well as used in subsequent supply.</li></ul> <ul><li>It has also specified a system whereby makers and users of plastic packaging could collect certificates called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) certificates.</li></ul> <ul><li>Only a fraction of plastic that cannot be recycled, such as multi-layered multi-material plastics, would be eligible to be sent for end-of-life disposals such as road construction, waste to energy, waste to oil, and cement kilns. Only methods prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) would be permitted for their disposal.</li></ul> <ul><li>Producers of plastic would be obliged to declare to the government, via a centralized website, how much plastic they produce annually. Companies would have to collect at least:</li><li class="ql-indent-1">35% of the target in 2021-22</li><li class="ql-indent-1">70% of the target by 2022-23</li><li class="ql-indent-1">100% of the target by 2024</li></ul> <ul><li>In 2024, a minimum of 50% of their rigid plastic (category 1) would have to be recycled as would 30% of their category 2 and 3 plastic.</li></ul> <ul><li>Every year would see progressively higher targets and after 2026-27, 80% of their category 1 and 60% of the other two categories would need to be recycled.</li></ul> <ul><li>If entities cannot fulfill their obligations, they would on a “case by case basis” be permitted to buy certificates making up for their shortfall from organizations that have used recycled content in excess of their obligation</li></ul> <ul><li>Non-compliance would not invite a traditional fine. Instead an “environmental compensation” would be levied, though the rules do not specify how much this compensation would be.</li></ul>