NEW DELHI: India's fight against plastic pollution is set to get a tad tougher thanks to possible changes in the rules governing plastic waste disposal. A committee constituted by the Union Environment Ministry in 2017 has recommended that the onus of collecting and disposal of plastic waste should lie solely on municipal bodies, whose track record on this front is abysmal.
The committee has suggested changes in the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. Under these rules, plastic manufacturers and the packaging industry were to take the help of NGOs to collect, recycle and dispose of plastic waste. These stringent rules were seen by green activists as a possible solution to the increasing environmental degradation caused by plastics in the country, especially in urban areas.
Plastic waste collection and disposal pose a huge challenge globally. The US, which has the highest consumption of plastics at 109 kg per capita, has an efficient waste collection system which ensures that there is a little environmental impact. Nearly 10 per cent of the waste is recycled, another 15 per cent is burned in waste-to-energy facilities and the remaining goes to landfills. Europe and China recycle 39.1 per cent and 22 per cent of their waste.
In contrast, India’s plastic consumption is only 11 kg per capita and it recycles 60 per cent of the waste but collection and disposal are a major issue. The change in rules has been recommended following several representations by the Rs 1,10,000 crore plastic industry over the waste collection.
“Handing over this responsibility to the producers would be very impractical and inefficient. We would have a situation wherein there would be multiple channels for waste collection leading to large inefficiencies,” the committee said in its report.
The nine-member committee with members from the central government and municipal bodies has now said the responsibility of waste collection and segregation rests solely with the urban local bodies. The panel has instead recommended levying a suitable fee depending on the quantum of plastic production.“This fee will get collected into a fund which would be used only for the purpose of plastic waste handling, collection, segregation, treatment and processing,” the report said.