- The government has plugged a loophole that allowed the import of plastic waste into India for processing.
- Solid plastic waste has been prohibited from import into the country including in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and by Export Oriented Units (EOU)
- The change in law was part of the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2019.
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India, in spite of having a significant plastic pollution load of its own, and a ban on plastic waste imports, imported PET bottles from abroad for processing in Special Economic Zones (SEZ).
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The influx of PET bottles has quadrupled from 2017 to 2018.
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Indian firms are importing plastic scraps from China, Italy, Japan and Malawi for recycling and the imports of PET bottle scrap & flakes has increased from 12,000 tonnes in FY 16-17 to 48,000 tonnes in FY 17-18 growing @ 290%.
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India has already imported 25,000 MT in the first 3 months of FY 18-19.
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India consumes about 13 million tonnes of plastic and recycles only about 4 million tonnes.
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To incentivise domestic plastic recycling units, the government had banned the import of plastic waste, particularly PET bottles, in 2015.
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In 2016, an amendment allowed such imports as long as they were carried out by agencies situated in SEZs.
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The lack of an efficient waste collection and segregation system is the root cause for much of the plastic not making its way to recycling centres.
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