HYDERABAD: In order to battle single use-plastic, the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) has given notices to more than 500 brands under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). However, food delivery companies like Swiggy and UberEats have been left out of the EPR.
The environment ministry has assessed that more than use of plastic, the resulting litter is what makes matters most difficult since the littered plastic waste mostly goes uncollected. So the framework for EPR is to ensure plastic producers also work towards its collection and disposal, post-consumption. Under the scheme, manufacturers, brand owners, and importers have to take primary responsibility for the collection of used multi-layered plastic sachets or pouches or packaging.
To do so, the TSPCB has sent notice to 500 manufacturers and brand owners in the city, giving them a target to recycle at least 50 per cent of the total waste that goes into nature from them. “We are trying to implement the scheme in a phased manner. By next year we will increase the target. In this way, most of the plastic waste that goes into nature can be recycled,” said D Narendra, senior environmentalist of TSPCB.
However, as of now, notices have not been sent to any food delivery companies. Claiming that the TSPCB is mulling over the matter, the official said, “We will be sending the notice to all major manufacturers in the city. We are also thinking of taking the food delivery companies into the gambit as they are also major contributors of plastic waste.”
EPR, which is considered a solution to the growing hazard of plastic waste, was introduced in the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2011, and was largely redefined in PWM 2016.