Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016

The plastic carry bags are the biggest contributors of the littered waste and every year, millions of plastic bags end up in the environment viz-a-viz soil, water bodies, water courses, and it takes an average of one thousand years to decompose completely.

• Therefore, to 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.
• However, the implementation of these rules was not so effective because their ambit was limited to notified municipal areas whereas today, the plastic has reached our rural areas also.
• To address these issues and with an objective to set up self-sustainable waste management system, the Ministry notified the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016
• The Rules provide for -
  • Increase in minimum thickness of plastic carry bags from 40 to 50 microns,
  • First time cover and stipulate minimum thickness of 50 microns for plastic sheets being used for packaging and wrapping commodities to facilitate collection and recycle of plastic waste,
  • Revamped pricing mechanisms for plastic carry bags by introducing plastic waste management fee to be paid by retailers/street vendors willing to provide carry bags as preregistration charge,
  • Ways and means to promote gainful utilization of plastic waste such as energy recovery, in road construction, etc.
  • Introducing user charge and spot fines by local authority.
• In 2018, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released new amendments to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.

Key Highlights

• A New Central registration system shall be established by CPCB for the registration of the producer/importer/brand owner.
• The new rules provides that any mechanism for the registration should be “automated” and should take into account ease of doing business for producers, recyclers and manufacturers
• The earlier rule for providing the plastic waste management fee, by the vendors/shopkeepers who are willing to provide plastic bags, has been removed in the new amended rule.
• The 2016 Rules state that the manufacture and use of “non-recyclable multi-layered plastic” should be phased out in two years.
• As per the new rules, non-recyclable multi-layered plastic has been replaced with “multi-layered plastic” which is non-recyclable or with no alternate use.