After representations from waste processing industries that there was not enough waste, the decision was made
After representations from waste processing industries that there was not enough waste, the decision was made
After banning plastic waste imports in 2019, Environment Ministry has allowed PET bottles to be imported as plastic waste. After representations from various industries involved in processing waste, the Environment Ministry made the decision to repeal the ban last year. They claimed that there was not enough waste in India and that this was causing financial losses.
A December 2012 report by an Environment Ministry expert committee recommended that companies who had applied for permission could import PET Flakes/Bottles at 50% of their production capacities. Polyethylene Terephthalate plastic bottles are a category that contains nearly 90% of the domestic plastic supply.
This reprieve was not well received by environmentalist groups.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade was able to hold a meeting with representatives of the Union Environment Ministry and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Smriti Manch (PDUSM), which included representatives of companies that had asked permission to import any plastic waste or the Plastic Export Promotional Council.
Seven Indian companies applied to import 93,000 tonnes plastic bottles waste from America, Canada, Germany in 2021. This was due to a shortage of plastic waste India. According to the PDUSM, more than 465 crore PET bottles of mineral water, cold drinks, and juice from these countries could be imported into India (1 bottle 20gms).
PDUSM’s campaign against plastic waste import played a part in the Centre’s 2019 ban.
India is not short of PET waste. According to industry data, India consumes more than 14 million tonnes of PET plastic annually. Even with a global highest recycling rate of 80%, approximately. 2.85 million tonnes of plastic bottles waste are never collected. Vinod Shukla, President of PDUSM, stated that even though the entire world is banning imports to strengthen local waste management, India would be the first country to allow plastic waste imports. The HinduOur primary goal is to increase local waste collection. Our country’s waste must be recycled before we import waste from other nations to make textiles/recycled goods.
He stated that he had already made arrangements with Indian companies to supply PET bottles for recyclers.
A top official from the Union Environment Ministry told this story, but he did not want to be identified. The HinduThere was no blanket lifting the import ban. The PET bottles could only be used to make yarn and recycled polyester staple fibre. These companies will be affected if there is no import. We made a balanced choice, taking all stakeholders into consideration.
According to some reports, the import of PET bottles from India has quadrupled since 2017, with Indian firms importing plastic from China, Japan, Italy, Japan, and Malawi for recycling. India is estimated to have a total of 13 million tonnes plastic consumption and a recycling rate of only 4 million tonnes. In 2015, the government banned imports of plastic waste, especially PET bottles, to encourage domestic plastic recycling. An amendment was made in 2016 that allowed such imports provided they were done by SEZ-based agencies. This was removed in 2019.
