Highlights of PWM Gazette Rule

[Published in the Gazette of India, Part-II, Section-3, Sub-section (i)]

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change

Notification

New Delhi, the 18th March, 2016,

as amended 27th March, 2018,

Application. - (1) These rules shall apply to every waste generator, local body, Gram Panchayat, manufacturer, Importers and producer.

Important Definitions:

“brand owner” means a person or company who sells any commodity under a registered brand label;

“producer” means persons engaged in manufacture or import of carry bags or multi-layered packaging or plastic sheets or like, and includes industries or individuals using plastic sheets or like or covers made of plastic sheets or multi-layered packaging for packaging or wrapping the commodity;

“carry bags” mean bags made from plastic material or compostable plastic material, used for the purpose of carrying or dispensing commodities which have a self-carrying feature but do not include bags that constitute or form an integral part of the packaging in which goods are sealed prior to use;

"commodity" means tangible item that may be bought or sold and includes all marketable goods or wares;

“extended producer’s responsibility” means the responsibility of a producer for the environmentally sound management of the product until the end of its life;

Registration:

Every producer or brand-owner shall, for the purpose of registration or for renewal of registration, make an application in Form-I to

i. “The concerned State Pollution Control Board or Pollution Control Committee of the Union territory, if operating one or two States or Union Territories”; or

ii. “The Central Pollution Control Board, if operating in more than two States or Union Territories”.

Responsibility of producers, Importers and Brand Owners –

1) The producers, within a period of six months from the date of publication of these rules, shall work out modalities for waste collection system based on Extended Producers Responsibility and involving State Urban Development Departments, either individually or collectively, through their own distribution channel or through the local body concerned;

2) Primary responsibility for collection of used multi-layered plastic sachet or pouches or packaging is of Producers, Importers and Brand Owners who introduce the products in the market. They need to establish a system for collecting back the plastic waste generated due to their products. This plan of collection to be submitted to the State Pollution Control Boards while applying for Consent to Establish or Operate or Renewal. The Brand Owners whose consent has been renewed before the notification of these rules shall submit such plan within one year from the date of notification of these rules and implement with two years thereafter;

3) Manufacture and use of multi-layered plastic which is non - recyclable or non -energy recoverable or with no alternate use of plastic if any should be phased out in Two years time;

4) The producer, within a period of three months from the date of final publication of these rules in the Official Gazette shall apply to the Pollution Control Board or the Pollution Control Committee, as the case may be, of the States or the Union Territories administration concerned, for grant of registration;

5) No producer shall on and after the expiry of a period of Six Months from the date of final publication of these rules in the Official Gazette manufacture or use any plastic or multi-layered packaging for packaging of commodities without registration from the concerned State Pollution Control Board or the Pollution Control Committees; and

6) Every producer shall maintain a record of details of the person engaged in supply of plastic used as raw material to manufacture carry bags or plastic sheet or like or cover made of plastic sheet or multi-layered packaging.