Plastic Waste Management Rules for PIBO,s and Plastic Waste Recyclers

Types of Plastic Waste

Plastic Waste Management Rules were introduced in India in 2016.  In fact, plastic waste has been accumulating in India for many years. Directly or indirectly, we, as consumers, use plastic, whether it's single-use plastic, multi-layer plastic, or high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic.  There's hardly a person on this earth whose daily life doesn't involve plastic. Considering this, the government and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) observed that plastic is accumulating in crores of tons in urban areas across the country, without adequate and proper processing. Enviroxperts team can assist and help in filling and consulting for getting EPR license from CPCB.

Who is Producer in Plastic Waste Management Rules

In 2016, the Plastic Waste Management Rules were introduced, and the Central Pollution Control Board stated that first and foremost, we need to identify those responsible for generating plastic waste in India.  There are three basically most important categories of plastic generators: firstly, the producer, which means the manufacturer. This is the entity that basically creates plastic in any form, such as making plastic films from plastic granules, manufacturing HDPE plastic, creating plastic products, drums, water bottles for daily use, and utensils. Enviroxperts team can assist and help in filling and consulting for getting EPR license as a Producer from CPCB.

Who is Importer and Brand Owner in Plastic Waste Management Rules

Secondly, the importer. This category includes those who are directly or indirectly importing plastic into India. If someone wants to import any kind of adhesive into India, they will basically import it in plastic drums or plastic bottles.  Whether it's textiles, products, or machinery, everything is imported into India in plastic packaging, bubble wrap, shrink wrap, and with plastic labeling. And the third category is the brand owner. A brand owner is someone who purchases plastic manufactured by a third party, puts their own branding on it, and sells it in the market. These three categories were identified as producers, importers, and brand owners. The question then arose, after these three categories were finalized, that if these entities are responsible for introducing plastic into India, who will dispose of this plastic?  Enviroxperts team can assist and help in filling and consulting for getting EPR license as a Importer and Brandowner from CPCB.

Plastic Waste Recycler under Plastic Waste Management Rules 

Under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, it was stated that authorized plastic recyclers, after fulfilling their compliance requirements and obtaining certificates of recycling from the State Pollution Control Board, would collect the plastic from these producers and importers and recycle it themselves. Enviroxperts team can help you in filling, and consulting to get the Plastic waste recycling licesne from SPCB. 

What is EPR in Plastic Waste Management Rules 

The Central Pollution Control Board stated that all producers, importers, and brand owners would have to register themselves under a license called EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility). Under this, they would have to provide information to the Central Pollution Control Board regarding the amount of plastic they have imported, manufactured, or sold as brand owners in the last two years. The government would define a annual target for recycling, which would be mentioned in the license, specifying the amount of plastic they need to recycle. Enviroxperts team can help and guide you in filling, and consulting to get the EPR Plastic Waste license from CPCB. 

Plastic waste recyclers, according to their EPR license of PIBO's and the target mentioned therein, would collect that much plastic on behalf of the producers, importers, and brand owners and submit a report after recycling that amount of plastic.

PWP Registration for Plastic Recycler

In 2022-23, it was observed that even after the establishment of this proper chain under the Plastic Waste Management Rules, things were not moving in a uniform manner. Therefore, the Central Pollution Control Board and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change introduced the EPR Plastic Credit Facility under this rule. It was stated that recyclers would have to register themselves as Plastic Waste Processors (PWP). Enviroxperts team can help and guide you in filling, and consulting to get the PWP license from CPCB/SPCB.

What is Plastic EPR credit and How Credit transfer works

After registration, for the quantity of plastic recycled according to the EPR license of the producers, importers, and brand owners, the recycler would transfer an equivalent number of credits to those producers, importers, and brand owners through their portal. Now, this wasn't just about transferring credits; our Central Pollution Control Board and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change opened up a good earning opportunity for recyclers.  Under this system, no recycler would transfer their credits for free. So, recyclers benefited from this.  To understand this better, let's take an example: if an importer's license states that they need to recycle 10 metric tons of plastic waste this year, the recycler they assign the task to will, after recycling that amount of plastic, transfer 10 credits to the importer.  Currently, the value of these credits isn't defined, so the recycler will charge the importer according to their effort, say ₹2 or ₹4 per kg. The method of charging will involve generating a proper invoice for the credit transfer facility services, and raising an invoice with 18% GST per kg, which will then be given to the importer by the recycler. Once the importer makes the payment to the recycler, the recycler will transfer the corresponding credits to the importer. This way, the recycler also benefits, and it also contributes to GST collection.

How Enviroxperts can help

We as an Enviroxperts team can consult, guide and helps you in fulfilling compliance for EPR license, PWP Registration.  One who want to start the business in Plastic recycling  can connect with Enviroxperts team. Our team will help you in explaining the rules , land requirements , Procedure, Consutling, and support you in fullfilling the licensing part for CTE & CTO license for the  Plastic waste recycling from State Pollution Control Board ( SPCB).