Extended Producer Responsibility and Enforcement of Single-Use Plastic Ban in Pune City of India

Abstract

India has experienced tremendous production, use, and discarding of plastic waste. The municipal and solid wastes proliferation of municipal waste, especially plastic waste, paved the way for the regulatory framework to implement the plastic ban in 18 states and Union Territories of India. In contrast, they have implemented a partial ban on plastic bags respectively. It addressed the phasing out of multi-layered plastics (MLP) and incorporated Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) within the circular economy of plastic waste generation and recycling. It is generally believed that the plastic ban in India has feeble administrative support and effective implementation. Therefore, the government has passed the Draft Plastic Rules, 2009; Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011; Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 and Draft Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2021. It made vital changes in recycled plastic manufacture and usage at national and state levels. Since the net outcome of the failure is environmental degradation beyond reparable limits, the most vociferous articulation of the banning of the single-use came through the Notification on Plastic and Thermocol Products, 2018, by the Government of Maharashtra. Although the new legal framework carried high deterrent value, the implementation has been heavily flawed. The paper deals with the plastic laws and performance in the context of EPR in Pune city of India. It suggests viable recommendations and strategies from a multi-stakeholder perspective.

Keywords

• extended producer liability, plastic manufacturing, recycling usage, multi stakeholder’s perspective