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Mumbai: Anti-pollution body vets PET bottles reuse units

Industry sources said there were around 700 recycling units in the organised and unorganised sector which process used PET bottles. Around 50% bottles are recycled by the informal sector.

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After the state government made it mandatory for packaged water manufacturers to start a buyback mechanism and recycle used bottles, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has started auditing recycling facilities. It is also planning to hand-hold operators to upgrade technologies.

"We are auditing existing facilities to check if they have compliances, their capacity and ability to upscale... we need to stabilise functional facilities, upgrade their technology and make them use pollution control mechanisms," said a senior MPCB official, admitting that a large chunk of the industry was in the unorganised sector in cities and towns like Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Thane, Malegaon and Pimpri- Chinchwad.

Industry sources said there were around 700 recycling units in the organised and unorganised sector which process used PET bottles. Around 50% bottles are recycled by the informal sector.

"We need more recycling facilities," the official admitted, claiming that now, just around 60% PET bottles were recycled. The official added after the audit was completed, they would connect manufacturers and these units to upgrade their technology.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change's Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, state that producers, brand owners and importers of plastic carry bags, multi-layered plastic sachet, pouches, or packaging should establish a system for collecting plastic waste generated due to their products. He pointed to how the establishment of such mechanisms by manufacturers and producers was long overdue.

"(PET bottles are) probably the only things possibly being recycled on a large scale as they are easy to collect," noted Arvind Shah of Wild West Innovation, which is a leading plastic recycler, adding that ragpickers got around Rs 30 to 40 per kg for collecting bottles. He admitted to the shortfall in recycling capacity.

Bottles are processed to make fibre for clothing like t-shirts, in construction of roads and granules to make recycled plastic.

The state's ban on disposable, single-use plastic and plastic products has introduced a buyback and refund scheme for milk polypacks and packaged drinking water bottles.

Though the scheme was to be operationalised by July 11, manufacturers did not submit their plans for approval, leading the state government to issue notices to them seeking compliances.

BUYBACK SCHEME

  • With the plastic ban came a buyback and refund scheme for milk polypacks and packaged drinking water bottles.
     
  • Scheme was to kick in by Jul 11, but makers  did not submit their plans for state’s nod. 
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