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On June 5, 2025, India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) released the Plastic Waste Management (Second Amendment) Rules, 2025 on the Gazette of India. This amendment introduces changes to the mandatory obligations due to be met by producers, importers, and brand owners and inserts special provisions for plastic packaging used in food contact applications. The amendment shall apply on the date of publication in the Gazette.
The Plastic Waste Management Rules (PWM Rules) was notified by MOEFCC back in 2016 to provide statutory framework for plastic waste management in India in an environmentally sound manner. The PWM Rules underwent multiple amendments from 2018 to 2025, notably the 2022 amendment introducing guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility on plastic packaging.
Plastic packaging in food contact applications
As required by the PWM Rules, producers, importers, and brand owners (PIBOs) need to fulfill their EPR obligations for:
(i) Recycling
(ii) Use of recycled content
(iii) Reuse
(iv) End-of-life disposal
The new policy now allows PIBOs to defer any shortfall in meeting the mandatory use of recycled plastic targets for plastic packaging during the fiscal year 2025-26. The unmet portion can be carried forward and fulfilled over the next three fiscal years (2026-27 to 2028-29), in addition to meeting the mandatory recycled plastic targets set for those years.
Exemptions for EPR obligations
The original text has made clear that exemptions may be granted by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on a case-by-case basis for meeting the obligations in respect of recycled plastic content by PIBOs, and reuse by brand owners, on account of statutory or technical requirements.
The amendment clarifies the requirements by attaching the following notes:
1. Statutory requirement would mean the case where use of recycled content is not allowed by any other law in force.
2. Technical requirement would mean the case where the use of recycled content renders the packaged material unfit for intended use.
The amendment also differentiates the minimum obligations to reuse Category I rigid plastic packaging for drinking water purposes and other purposes.
The PWM(Second Amendment) Rules, 2025 can be accessed here.
