With a view to o introduce Extended Producer Responsibility (“EPR”) for ensuring environmentally sound management of post-consumer paper including paper board, glass , metal (excluding non-ferrous metal based ) packaging and sanitary products and to promote circular economy through reuse, recovery and recycling, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has issued the draft Environment Protection (Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging made from paper, glass and metal as well as sanitary products) Rules, 2024 and has invited comments on it from the public till 4th February, 2025.
Key Highlights:
Applicability:
The Draft Rules are applicable to:
- Producer (P) who introduce any packaging made from glass, metal and paper including paper board as well as sanitary products in the market;
- Importer (I) who introduce any packaging made from glass, metal, paper including paper board as well as sanitary products in the market;
- Brand Owners (BOs) who introduce any packaging made from glass, metal and paper including paper board as well as sanitary products in the market; and
- Waste processor of packaging made of paper including paper board or glass or metal and sanitary waste.
Key Terms:
The draft Rules have laid down definitions, few of which are as follows:
- “Producer” means persons engaged in manufacture of packaging made from glass, metal and paper and sanitary products
- “Importer” ―means a person who imports for commercial use, any packaging made from glass, metal and paper and sanitary products;
- “Brand Owner” means a person or company who sells any commodity under a registered brand label/trade mark;
- “Waste Processors” means recyclers and entities engaged in using solid waste for energy (waste to energy)
- “Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR)” means the responsibility of a producer for the environmentally sound management of the product until the end of its life;
- “sanitary products” means products comprising of diapers, sanitary towels or napkins, incontinence sheets;
Compliance Requirements:
Compliance obligations proposed in the Draft Rules are as follows:
- The Producers, Importers, Brand Owners (PIBOs) and Waste Processors are required to register themselves on the centralized online portal of EPR;
- Fulfilment of specified EPR targets by the PIBOs;
- Filing of annual returns by PIBOs on the packaging product waste and sanitary waste collected and processed towards fulfilling obligations under EPR with the concerned CPCB/SPCB/PCC as per pro forma prescribed by CPCB by the 30th June of the next financial year;
- Filing of annual returns by the Waste Processors on the quantity of packaging waste as well as sanitary waste processed material-wise as per prescribed pro forma on the centralized online portal by 30th April of the next financial year.
- Additionally, provisions stating the role of Central Pollution Control Board, State Pollution Control Boards, Pollution Control Committees, provisions with respect to imposition of Environmental Compensation, etc. have been proposed in the draft Rules.
Objections or suggestions on the proposals contained in the draft notification, if any, may be addressed to the Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jor bagh Road, New Delhi- 110 003 or electronically at e-mail addressed: sohsmd-mef@gov.in.
Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
