Parliament Question:- Plastic waste in the country

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Parliament Question:- Plastic waste in the country

Posted On: 12 DEC 2024 6:13PM by PIB Delhi

Several reports are published on plastic production and plastic waste generation. These reports vary in their country-wise projections on account of data sources used and assumptions and methodologies used for making projections. In so far as, plastic waste generated in the country, based upon information provided by State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) / Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) to Central Pollution Control Board, the quantity of plastic waste generation during the period 2018-19 to 2022-23 is given below   : 

The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, as amended, provide the statutory framework for environmentally sound plastic waste management in the country. The rules mandate urban local bodies and gram panchayats to undertake plastic waste management including collection of plastic waste. Under the rules, the urban local bodies and gram panchayats are mandated to ensure that open burning of plastic waste does not take place.  The implementation, of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) on plastic packaging notified in 2022 under Plastic Waste Management Rules, will allow for further development of the waste management sector covering collection, segregation, processing of plastic waste across the country. A total of 2,614 Plastic Waste Processors (PWPs) have been registered till date under EPR Guidelines and around 103 lakh tonnes of plastic packaging waste has been processed as per information available on the Centralized EPR portal on plastic packaging.

Further, the Government of India also provides additional central assistance to the States/UTs under the Swachh Bharat Mission for solid waste management including plastic waste management, in urban and rural areas of the country, as per scheme guidelines. Plastic Waste Management Units are established under Swachhh Bharat Mission Phase II (Grameen) [SBM (G)]. The SBM (G) Phase II guidelines provide financial assistance of upto Rs. 16 lakh per Block for construction of a PWMU. Additionally, depending on requirement, PWMUs can be set up in cluster mode for more than one block within the overall funding limits available for those blocks.

Under Swachhh Bharat Mission Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0), Additional Central Assistance is provided to States and Union Territories for solid waste management including plastic waste management by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, as per scheme guidelines. Setting up of waste processing facilities such as Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) is an eligible component of funding for sustainable solid waste management, as per Operation Guidelines for SBM-U 2.0. As per Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the total number of existing solid waste Material Recovery Facilities in the country is 4446 with a capacity of 31427.2 TPD.

The implementation of ban on identified single use plastic items, which have high littering potential and low utility, with effect from 1^st July, 2022, coupled with implementation of extended producer responsibility on plastic packaging will reduce pollution caused by littered and unmanaged plastic waste.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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