“The processing of the plastic waste can be done with the support of advanced technology on a common scale and then the same is made available to these small industries to produce granules that meet the desired virgin quality standard” – Mr. Ulhas Parlikar, Director, MRAI

MRAI’s 9th International Material Recycling Conference is being organised in The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, Delhi from 5th to 7th May 2022. The Session on the aspects related to Plastic Recycling is scheduled on 5th May 2022 in the second half.

Four major topics related to Plastic Recycling are included in this session for deliberations. They are (1) Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), (2) Plastic Recycling Cluster Development, (3) Technological developments in plastic recycling, (4) Funding opportunities for plastic recycling projects and (5) BIS standards for Plastic Recycling. These five topics have major role to play in promoting plastic recycling in the country.

EPR is an important lever that provides opportunity for reducing the environmental impact of the plastic packaging after its use is exhausted. It makes the Producers, Importers & Brand owners (PIBOs) of the product responsible for its take-back, recycling and final disposal. EPR has the primary aim to increase the amount and degree of product recovery and hence, EPR drives adoption of sustainable practices and resource efficiency. MoEFCC has recently notified the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2022 in which the EPR obligations of the PIBOs were included and also the mechanism for its implementation has been defined. There is anxiety amongst the stakeholders on how the existing EPR regulation is going to bring all PIBOs – small & big and national & multinational in the ambit of the same. The objective of EPR notification is likely to get fulfilled only when the same is met. The stakeholders are also looking forward to have ease of business while complying to it. The panel discussion on this subject is going to deliberate various opportunities and challenges associated with the EPR implementation and also successfully overcoming them.

There are a large number of plastic recycling industries in informal sector. The recycled plastic granules that they produce are generally of low quality. To product high quality granules, there is need to utilize appropriate advanced recycling technology which is not affordable by them due to their small scale of operation. Also, they lack the desired market reach due to their scale of operation and limited availability of funds, etc. There is need to develop therefore plastic recycling cluster for them where in the processing of the plastic waste can be done with advanced technology on a common scale and then the same is made available to these small industries to produce granules that meet the desired virgin quality standard. This will also provide better market reach to them and hence the price. The panel will discuss these aspects in detail on who to go ahead in implementing these recycling clusters.

In this session, experts are also going deliberate the new & advanced technologies that are in practice now for plastic recycling, the quality standards being drafted by BIS for the recycled plastic granules and the funding opportunity available for the plastic recycling industry from the private funds, etc. This session therefore is going to provide opportunity to the participants to get a good overview of the developments in these matters. Also, this session will be providing opportunity for the participants to interact with the experts & the authorities and get their queries clarified.