New Environmental Compensation (EC) guidelines to strengthen EPR management have been approved by the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
It is believed that manufacturers not meeting their EPR targets will face penalties of up to Rs8.40 per kilo of waste tyres not accounted for.
Further fines are listed in the guidelines, which also impose a fine of Rs 25,000 for violations under the Hazardous and Other Waste (Management and Transboundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2022. The fine can increase to Rs 1 lakh if the offence has been repeated. This is in addition to the Rs8.40 levied on inaccurately accounted waste tyres.
The real challenge lies in enforcing the law. “The guidelines are good, but implementation should be made more stringent,” said Debadityo Sinha, lead for climate and ecosystems at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
Producers have to fill their obligations by buying EPR certificates from certified registered recyclers. However, it is understood that importers are buying up EPR certificates and the provision is already running into the next fiscal year’s available certificates.
The Central Pollution Control Board has asked all producers to fulfill their assigned EPR obligations for FY23 and FY24.
Manufacturers and importers of new tyres in India face escalating recycling responsibilities under the EPR regime. Starting with 35 per cent of their 2020-21 production/imports in 2022-23, the target climbs to 70 per cent in 2023-24 and reaches 100 per cent of the previous year’s production from 2024-25 onwards.
New units join the programme after two years, hitting 100 per cent responsibility in the third year. Waste tyre importers have an even stricter task with managing 100 per cent of the tyres they imported in the previous year, with import for producing pyrolysis oil or char explicitly banned.
Currently, in the producer category, there are 52 original equipment manufacturers and 126 importers, while 355 recyclers have submitted registration applications. Of these, 130 producers and 164 recyclers have been granted approval.
