SC's PET verdict makes industry cheer, green activists scream

SC on Friday turned down a plea against Madhaya Pradesh High Court denying a ban on PET packaging

The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to quash a plea against a Madhya Pradesh High Court order, and thereby deny a ban on Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) packaging, has come as a relief to the Rs 4,000-crore PET industry.

But, this has also left green activists concerned over the likely environmental damage and harmful effects of chemicals in PET — a polymer resin of the polyester family — getting exposed to reactions with the medicines and liquor contained in the bottle.

The country’s soft drink market is the primary driver for PET bottles. In volume terms, 62-65 per cent of soft drinks now come in PET bottles, making it a more vital component of the booming soft drink market. The other major user industries include pharmaceuticals, drinking water, edible oil, milk, spices, honey, ketchup, pickles and confectioneries.

INDUSTRY’S PET

• Rs 4,000 crore: Size of India’s polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging industry; it has a volume of 600,000 tonnes, compared with China’s 4 millon tonnes
• Users: Major user industries include soft drinks, pharma products, drinking water, edible oil, milk, spices, honey, ketchup, pickles and confectioneries
• 62-65% of soft drinks come in PET bottles (in volume terms)
• 15-18%: Annual rate at which India’s PET industry has been growing for the past two years (estimated to fall to 12% this year due to early rains dampening sales in North India)

In June 2013, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had dismissed a public interest suit filed by Prani Mitra Samiti (Pramisha), a non-governmental organisation, asking for a ban on the use of PET for packaging of beverages. When asked about this, B V Ramanan, chairman and managing director of Livia Polymer Bottles, a leading PET manufacturer, said: “According to the Food Safety Act, PET packaging has been approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for the past 26 years. This ruling would be a boost for the country’s PET industry, growing at 15-18 per cent annual rate for the past two years.”

Also, the PET raw material industry is planning to expand its capacity to three million tonnes, from the current 1.2 million tonnes. “Of the 1.2 million tonnes of raw materials produced, 60,000 tonnes are consumed by the domestic industry, while the rest is exported,” said an industry source.

Though similar PILs were filed in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana and Karnataka, too, citing PET contaminated beverages and caused environmental hazard, all these pleas were turned down by several courts.

Asked about this, Ramesh Chauhan, chairman & managing director of Bisleri International, the largest consumer of PET bottles for packaging water, said: “At last, somebody up there understands the value of PET packaging and is not getting misled by false propaganda.” He added PET and plastics were the only packaging materials that had made a unique value system for themselves — these can be recycled more than once which ensures the ecosystem is kept free from nuisance. “I am happy people are waking up to the facts the industry was trying hard to express for a long time,” Chauhan said.

Environmentalists, however, are countering the industry. “Scientific studies by independent groups suggest chemicals elements in PET bottles might react with chemical components in drugs and cause leaching in various temperature conditions. These companies might have BIS and other regulatory clearances but our demand is that the government consider this on the basis of fresh studies,” said Ajay Jugran of HIM Jagriti, Uttaranchal Welfare Society, Dehradun. HIM Jagriti had recently approached the health ministry, seeking a ban on PET packaging for medicines, as leaching could have carcinogenic impact.

Now, the health ministry has also jumped into the picture and is planning to set up an expert committee to look into the issue scientifically.

On Friday, a two-member Bench of Chief Justice P Sadashivam and judge Ranjan Gogoi had rejected a special leave petition based on the order passed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.