Govt releases new plastic waste management norms: How they fall short

The draft rules propose to give manufacturers five years to achieve waste management targets, starting with 30% and moving up to 90% in the fifth year

The central government’s proposed rules for ‘extended producer responsibility’ (EPR) for plastic waste--which would make a manufacturer responsible for managing plastic waste after a consumer has used their product--are unlikely to meet their objective, industry observers and stakeholders say.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change released the draft Uniform Framework for Extended Producer Responsibility (Under Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016) on June 26, 2020, seeking stakeholder comment by July 31. IndiaSpend wrote to the environment ministry to ask how many comments had come in and when the rules would be finalised, but they did not respond. India’s green court,