Concerns with new rule for Recycled Plastics

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
• 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.
  • Not included in the draft means no public consultation happened around these two issues. 
  • It is opposite to the core essence of democracy.

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.

Recycled plastics v/s Recycled Glass or Metals for food application

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.
• 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.
  • 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. 
• This will enable us to come up with a rational solution for the use of recycled plastic.

Source: DTE