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In News
- The Plastic Waste Management (Second Amendment) Rules, 2021 was notified in September, 2021.
About
- In this amendment, the government took a U turn on its stand of banning use of recycled plastic or newspaper for food items packaging.
- The second amendment came just a few weeks after the notification of the first amendment, which listed 20 single-use plastic items to be phased out.
- It was notified under sub rule 4 of rule 5 of the Environment Protection Rules, 1986.
Criticism of the Plastic Waste Management (2nd amendment) Rules, 2021
- Non-Conformity with previous progressive laws
- Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016
- According to its clause b, sub rule 1, rule 4, the following shall not be used for storing, carrying, dispensing or packaging ready to eat or drink foodstuff.
- carry bags made of recycled plastic or
- products made of recycled plastic
- In short, it prohibited the use of recycled plastic for food contact applications
- According to its clause b, sub rule 1, rule 4, the following shall not be used for storing, carrying, dispensing or packaging ready to eat or drink foodstuff.
- Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016
- Against Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulations
- In 2018, the FSSAI banned the use of recycled plastic or newspaper for packaging of food items from July 1, 2019.
- Ideally, FSSAI is the apex body for food safety and hence MoEFCC must have followed the lead of FSSAI.
- Not a part of Draft rule, so no public discussion
- 2 major rules have been added to the Plastic Waste Management Rules without them being part of the Draft rules 2021.
- First addition assured companies that more single-use plastic products will be added to the phase-out list only after a decade from the notification of the first amendment of 2021.
- It indirectly provided a moratorium of 10 years to big companies to keep polluting.
- Second is to allow the use of recycled plastics for food products packaging.
- First addition assured companies that more single-use plastic products will be added to the phase-out list only after a decade from the notification of the first amendment of 2021.
- Not included in the draft means no public consultation happened around these two issues.
- It is opposite to the core essence of democracy.
- 2 major rules have been added to the Plastic Waste Management Rules without them being part of the Draft rules 2021.
Recycled Plastics
- Plastic recycling is the reprocessing of plastic waste into new and useful products.
- India recycles 60 per cent of its plastic waste, according to the claims of the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
Fig: Plastic Recycling Process (Courtesy: CEFLEX)
- Benefits of recycling Plastics
- Reduced dependence on landfill
- Conserves resources
- Protects the environment from plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Helps in reducing the non biodegradable plastic which otherwise will end up for years in the environment, on land and ocean garbage patches.
- Challenges of recycling Plastic
- Informal Workforce and Value Chain:
- The majority of value chain for plastic recycling includes kabadiwalas, waste pickers, itinerant buyers and small-scale recyclers.
- Unscientific methods:
- The use of crude/ unscientific methods to produce plastic pellets raise concerns around the contamination and purity of the recycled plastic.
- Unknown Source of Recycled Plastic:
- Plastic is used in a variety of sectors ranging from medicines, electronic equipment to chemical fertilizers.
- The recycled plastic may have traces and hence should not be used in food contact applications.
- Lack of Proper Standards and monitoring mechanisms
- In a blended product, made by mixing virgin and recycled polymer, it is practically impossible to tell the amount of recycled plastic that has been added to the final product.
- Informal Workforce and Value Chain:
Recycled plastics v/s Recycled Glass or Metals for food application
Recycled Metals/ Glass |
Recycled Plastics |
|
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Global Practices
- United States of America (USA)
- In the USA, manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that the recycled product is of suitable purity as codified in their law.
- The Food and Drug Administration in the US is aware of contaminants from post-consumer plastic that may appear in the final product.
- Therefore, each proposal of using recycled plastic is evaluated before issuing a no-objection letter.
- A proposal has to be supplemented with information that is relevant to make the decision which includes:
- The complete recycling process
- Description of the source of the post-consumer plastic
- Description of steps taken to avoid contamination
- Tests to show that all potential contaminants have been removed during the recycling process
- Description of the future use of the plastic
- The European Union
- It has come up with a ‘plastic strategy’ in 2018.
- The objective of the strategy is to transform the way plastic products are designed, produced, used and recycled in the EU.
- According to regulation 282/2008, only food-contact materials and articles that contain recycled plastics obtained from an authorised recycling process may be marketed in the EU.
- It has come up with a ‘plastic strategy’ in 2018.
- Asia
- Most countries in Asia lack a specific regulation to explicitly allow or prohibit the use of recycled plastics in food applications.
- Recent updates by Korea, China and Thailand indicate that the region may soon see food packaging applications using recycled materials.
Recommendations for India
- Transparency in information regarding the intent and objective of the law
- The laws/ rules should not be passed without deliberate discussion with the public and experts.
- Before the FSSAI takes a call to include recycled plastic for food contact applications, we have to ensure the following things:
- Recycling only through authorised recycling facilities.
- The country’s data around the number and capacity of plastic recycling plants is very weak.
- We need a yardstick to understand our capacity to recycle correctly and utilise the material for other applications, thus closing the loop.
- Only non-food applications of Recycled Plastic initially
- It will help to understand the issues faced by the industries in terms of production and social acceptability.
- Inventory of the types of processes
- It will help to identify the plastic recycling processes that are safe enough to produce recycled plastic for food contact applications.
- Proper Guidelines on lines of USA regulations
- This should include
- the source of the post-consumer plastic waste,
- type of polymer that can be used,
- the nature of the food material that they can be used for packaging,
- the average time for which the plastic will be in contact with the food and finally,
- the temperature that the packaging material may be subjected to while still in contact with the food material.
- This should include
- A working mechanism needs to be developed
- It must include all the stakeholders, which include but are not limited to
- MoEFCC,
- FSSAI,
- the Central Pollution Control Board, all the State Pollution Control Boards and the Pollution Control Committees,
- the Urban Local Bodies,
- representatives of the plastic industry, including the plastic recycling industry as well as
- consumers.
- It must include all the stakeholders, which include but are not limited to
- Recycling only through authorised recycling facilities.
- This will enable us to come up with a rational solution for the use of recycled plastic.
Source: DTE
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