Plastic Waste Management (Second Amendment) Rules, 2021

PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT (Second Amendment) Rules, 2021

Plastic has many uses, and due to its physical and chemical properties, it leads to huge commercial use and success. The indiscriminate disposal of plastic has, however, become a major environmental threat. In particular, the plastic carrying bags are the main contributors to littered waste, and every year, millions of plastic bags end up in the atmosphere, vis-à-vis the soil, water bodies, rivers, etc It takes an average of one thousand years to decompose completely. Therefore, the Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Regulations, 2011 were notified in 2011, which included plastic waste management, to tackle the problem of plastic waste management. In violation of the earlier Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Regulations, 2011, the government notified the Plastic Waste Management Regulations, 2016.

Objective:

1. Increase the minimum thickness of plastic carrying bags from 40 to 50 microns and specify a minimum thickness of 50 microns for plastic sheets, also to encourage the collection and recycling of plastic waste
2. Extend the applicability jurisdiction from municipal to rural areas, since plastic has also reached rural areas
3. Introduction of a system collecting back of plastic waste by producers/brand owners, as per extended producer responsibility.
4. Promoting the use of plastic waste for road construction according to the guidelines of the Indian Road Congress or energy recovery, or waste to oil etc. for the profit-making use of waste and also addressing the issue of waste disposal; entrusting further responsibility to waste generators, namely payment of user fees as prescribed by local authorities, collection and transfer of waste by the institutional generator, event organizer

In recent days government came along with an amendment to the Plastic Waste Management Rule 2016. This amendment was published in The Gazette of India on 17th September 2021. These rules may be called the Plastic Waste Management (Second Amendment) Rules, 2021.

After the Amendment, the government permitted carrying bags made of plastic or products made up of recycled plastic can be used for storing, carrying, dispensing, or packaging ready-to-eat or drink foodstuffs.

Amendment States that:

In the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, in rule 4, in sub-rule (1), for clause (b), the following clause

shall be substituted, namely

“(b) carry bags made of recycled plastic or products made of recycled plastic can be used for storing,

carrying, dispensing, or packaging ready-to-eat or drink foodstuffs, subject to the notification of the appropriate

standards and regulations under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (34 of 2006) by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.

After this amendment, we can see a change in Rule 4 (1)(b)

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