New Delhi, June 7 (KNN) Micro and Small producers in the plastic packaging industry have publicly placed a request to the central government for exemption from Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulatory regime owing to its complexities.

Making an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the micro and small plastic packaging producers said that barring them from EPR regulatory regime is necessary for the survival of over 20 lakh jobs provided by the producers.

The All India Plastic Manufacturers Association (AIPMA), Organization of Plastics Processors of India (OPPI), and many other regional associations from Gujarat, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, and Maharashtra have come together to seek exclusion from EPR regulatory regime.

The complexity of the EPR regulatory regime makes compliance burdensome for the mirco and small producers due to limited human and financial resources at their disposal.

EPR regime is under implementation in Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, according to which it is the responsibility of Producers, Importers and Brand-owners to ensure processing of their plastic packaging waste through recycling, re-use or end of life disposal.

In order to streamline implementation process of EPR, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, in its fourth Amendment to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, dated February 16, 2022, notified ‘Guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility for Plastic Packaging’ in the Schedule II of the Rules.

As per these guidelines, Producers, Importers and Brand Owners (PIBOs) shall have to register through the online centralized portal developed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Accordingly, this portal has been developed to register PIBOs who are operating in more than two States with CPCB and those operating in one or two States/UTs shall be registered with the concerned State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs).

As per the EPR Guidelines, Rule 4, total 4 entities have been covered under Extended Producers Responsibility- Producers (P) of plastic packaging, Importer (I) of all imported plastic packaging and/ or plastic packaging of imported products, Brand Owners (BO) including online platforms/ marketplaces and supermarkets/ retail chains other than those and Plastic Waste Processor (PWP).

However, brand owners which are micro and small scale as per the criteria of Ministry of MSME has been exempted under the said rule.

The similar exemption is demanded by the micro and small producers of plastic packaging industry.  (KNN Bureau)