India Will No Longer Import Solid Plastic Waste, Scrap To Be Used To Produce Recycled Products

Paying heed to the long standing demand of environmentalists and many in the plastic recycling industry the government has finally plug the loopholes in the law that allowed plastic waste import to the country.

Despite an official ban the loophole allowed import plastic scrap in special economic zones (SEZ) and export oriented units (EOUs). This was being used to import plastic scrap for recycling.

AFP

The Environment Ministry in its latest order, which came into effect from March 1 has completely banned import of solid plastic waste to the country.?

“Solid plastic waste has been prohibited from import into the country including in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and by Export Oriented Units (EOU),” the ministry said.

India was importing plastic scrap from elsewhere despite the fact that 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste is generated in the country every day, nearly half of which is not even recycled.

Welcoming the decision, Vinod Shukla, President of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Smriti Manch (PDUSM), an NGO which has been in the forefront of a campaign to encourage recycling of the domestically produced plastic waste said the move will help in reducing the pileup of waste on the streets.

"This is a welcome step by the Environment Ministry, in fact this was long overdue. Logically there was no reason for India to allow import of recyclable plastic. Countries including China had banned it long back. Remember, even now more than 40 percent of the plastic we end up throwing in the streets is still lying there uncollected," he said.? ?

BCCL

According to the CPCB, 10,376 tonnes (40%) out of 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste generated every day remain uncollected. This is a matter of concern as the uncollected plastic then enters the ecosystem and will remain there for centuries to come.

Shukla said following the import ban, recyclers will be forced to buy it from ragpickers, which will eventually help in improving their lives.

"A section of the recycling industry used to depend on imported plastic scrap as it was cheaper. But now they will have to get it from the rag-pickers, whose life depends on this. It is a win-win for all, we will have less plastic lying on the streets, rag-picker will be better paid and the industry will still have enough material for processing," Shukla explained.

BCCL

He also rejected the argument that the ban will hurt the industry which in the first 3 months of FY 18-19 has already imported 25,000 MT of plastic scrap including PET bottle scrap.

"Right from the beginning we have been empahsusing on strengthening the supply chain. The moment recyclers start buying scrap only from rag-pickers they will be paid better. This will push them to collect even more plastic from the streets and take it to recycling units. Thus our environment too will remain cleaner," he said.