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On September 18, 2023, India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) issued the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations for used oil in the Gazette of India. The regulations are also called the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Second Amendment Rules, 2023. It shall come into force from April 1, 2024.
The regulatory movement marks the nation's committment to further expand the scope of EPR to include more products and sectors, as part of government's efforts to promote sustainable economy. So far, EPR in India extends to several sectors, including plastic wastes, batteries, waste tyres, electronic wastes.
The concept of used oil is specified in Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, which refers to any oil:
derived from crude oil or mixtures containing synthetic oil including spent oil, used engine oil, gear oil, hydraulic oil, turbine oil, compressor oil, industrial gear oil, heat transfer oil, transformer oil and their tank bottom sludges; and
suitable for reprocessing, if it meets the maximum permissible limits for polychlorinated biphenyls(PCBs), lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, nickel, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in Part A of Schedule V (excluding waste oil).
Registration
Under the EPR Regulation, producers, collection agents, recyclers and used oil importers must register on the portal developed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to carry on business. The authority will charge registration and annual maintenance fees based on volume of used oil generated, recycled or handled.
Producers means any person or entity who:
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EPR Mode
Producers and used oil importers may choose the following mode for managing the used oil in order of priority:
(1) Producing re-refined base oil or lubrication oil;
(2) Energy recovery (for used oil not suitable for recycling).
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EPR Target
All producers and used oil importers shall fulfill EPR target as under:
For producers:
| Year | Used oil recycling target |
| 2024-2025 | 5% of the base oil or lubrication oil sold or imported in the Year 2022-23 |
| 2025-2026 | 10% of the base oil or lubrication oil sold or imported in the year 2023-24 |
| 2026-2027 | 20% of the base oil or lubrication oil sold or imported in the year 2024-25 |
| 2027-2028 | 20% of the base oil or lubrication oil sold or imported in the year 2025-26 |
| 2028-2029 | 40% of the base oil or lubrication oil sold or imported in the year 2026-27 |
| 2029-2030 (Y) | 40% of the base oil or lubrication oil sold or imported in the year (Y-2) |
Note: For units established after April 1, 2024, the EPR target will start after two years from the end of the financial year in which the unit was established and will be as per the target prescribed above.
For used oil importers:
EPR target in year (Y) shall be 100% of the used oil imported in year (Y-1);
The import of used oil is permitted for the purpose of re-refining only.
How to Fulfill EPR Obligations?
Producers and used oil importers can purchase EPR certificates limited to its EPR liability of current year plus any leftover liability of preceding years plus 10% of the current year liability. Once the entity purchases EPR certificate, it will be automatically adjusted against its liability, and the priority will be given to the previous liability.
Each EPR certificate shall have a unique number containing year of generation, code of end product, recycler code and a unique code and shall be in the denominations of 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 10,000 kilograms or as may be prescribed by CPCB with the approval of Steering Committee. The validity of the EPR certificate will be 2 years from the end of the financial year in which it is issued.
The complete text can be accessed here.
