Why EPR Registration Is Essential For Sustainable Waste Management?

In recent years, countries all across the globe have widely adopted Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies to tackle environmental pollution and promote a circular economy. The concept of EPR is implemented in line with the goals of SDG 12 demonstrating sustainable production and consumption.

EPR is based on the polluter-pay principle that whoever has been causing the pollution should bear the responsibility and cost of managing it. EPR has spearheaded the creation of infrastructural facilities for waste collection, sorting, storage, recycling plants, and technology-driven solutions. The framework also incentivizes manufacturers to design products that leave minimal environmental impact and are resource-efficient.

Let’s delve deeper and understand how EPR Registration plays a pivotal role in promoting a circular economy, ensuring sustainable management of waste, and establishing recycling and collection mechanisms.

What is Sustainable Waste Management under EPR?

Sustainable waste management is an approach that defies the take-make-waste model. Also referred to as linear economy, the model describes a system where first the resources are extracted. Then the raw material is used to create products, marketed, utilized, and discarded as waste once it is no longer useful. Sustainable waste management opposes this model and attempts to keep the raw materials and products in use as long as possible. It aims to minimize the generated waste, look for ways to repurpose products, and treat them in an environment-friendly manner to bring them back into circulation.

Under EPR, sustainable management of waste encompasses the following key components:

• Sustainable Product Design: EPR rules promote the adoption of sustainable practices by businesses and individuals alike. The certificate serves as an economic incentive that encourages producers to design their products in such a manner that creates minimal waste and is easy to recycle once it reaches the recycler/ dismantlers.
• Waste Management: The EPR framework aims to manage post-consumer waste. In simpler terms, EPR encourages producers to collect, recycle, and reuse the plastic bags, cardboard boxes, or other plastic packaging items they have produced and sold to the customers. To facilitate the collection, companies can either set up their own collection mechanism or enter into contracts with PROs (Producer Responsibility Organizations).
• Circular Economy: One of the significant benefits of EPR is its ability to promote the principles of circular economy and minimize the environmental footprint of products through resource efficiency. Instead of letting the product end up in landfills, littering, or burning, EPR incentivizes reuse and recycling and thus promotes sustainable methodologies to enable responsible management of waste.

EPR in Promoting Circular Economy and Sustainability

Before understanding how EPR promotes a circular economy, it is necessary to understand the different aspects of the circular economy itself. Also referred to as a closed-loop economy and zero-waste economy, a circular economy is based on three key principles namely the elimination of pollution and waste, the regenerate nature, and the circulation of products. In simpler terms, it involves reusing, repairing, sharing, leasing, recycling, and refurbishing the existing plastic and other materials to keep it in use as long as possible. Thus, instead of discarding the material, it is brought back into the economy and used again and again. The circular economy plays a pivotal role in reducing the extraction of natural resources, and greenhouse gas emissions, and creating an ecologically sound future.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), EPR refers to the process where companies are made fully responsible for the end-of-life of their packaging and products. EPR has been playing a crucial role in driving the circular economy by encouraging producers to design products that are easy to disassemble, repair, and recycle. The framework has led to a reduction in waste generation and created sustainable waste management technologies and infrastructure.

EPR includes both the organizational and financial responsibility of companies to collect, sort, and recycle their products in a quantity equivalent to or similar to those sold in the market. EPR systems, within different countries, further use the system to incentivize its producers and manufacturers to reduce and prevent waste generation at the design stage.

How EPR Regulations Impact the Import and Export Industry? EPR framework also holds importers and exporters responsible for their products where securing the certificate is a prerequisite to receiving customer clearance. In addition, compliance with EPR norms is a key factor in scaling up and expanding business operations to markets that prioritize products that create no to minimal environmental footprint.

Different Types of EPR Regulations in India

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) aims to increase the commitment of various stakeholders including PIBOs (Producers, Importers, and Brand Owners) to create environment-friendly goods. A statutory organization, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), is delegated the responsibility to enforce and oversee the EPR framework in India. Several regulations govern proper waste management of items such as plastic, electronic waste, and others. These regulations are as follows:

• EPR for Plastic Waste: Extended Producer Responsibility for plastic waste is governed through the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules 2022. It became operational in July 2022 and categorized plastic into four categories namely rigid plastic packaging, multi-layered plastic packaging, flexible plastic packaging, and carry bags or plastic sheets that are compostable. 
• EPR for Battery Waste: Commenced in August 2022, EPR rules for battery waste apply to manufacturers, refurbishers, manufacturers, and recyclers. The rules mandate these entities who deal with all kinds of batteries register at the EPR portal and fill out Form 1A by submitting the necessary documents. EPR for battery waste does not apply to batteries that are used in space equipment, security instruments, and the military.
• EPR Registration for Electronic Waste: EPR e-waste deals with EEE (electrical and electronic equipment) such as generators, cables, wires, heaters, lightning equipment, refrigerators, televisions, medical devices, robots, semiconductors, etc. As per the E-Waste Management Rules, 2022, every manufacturer, refurbisher, recycler, and manufacturer is required to obtain an EPR certificate and submit quarterly and annual returns on the EPR portal in a timely manner.
• EPR for Waste Tyre Management: The Hazardous and Other Waste Management and Transboundary Movement Amendment Rules 2022 regulate tyres waste in India. It involves only three entities namely recyclers, producers, and retreaders. Retreaders are those individuals who indulge in the process of replacing a tyre’s worn-out tread to make it as good as new tyres. This gives the tyre a new life and reduces the amount of tyre waste being sent to landfills.

Recycling And Collection Mechanism Under EPR Rules

To establish the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system in place, PIBOs, especially producers, must first register with the relevant authorities, either the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) or SPCB (State Pollution Control Boards). Moving forward, entities will be required to submit the necessary documents such as the company’s PAN, GST certificate, CIN (Corporate Identification Number), certificate of incorporation, and IEC (Importer Exporter Code) applicable in case of importers.

Upon successful registration and securing of certification, PIBOs are required to comply with certain provisions. Producers are required to manage their products once they reach the end-of-life stage. For this, it can adopt two approaches. Producers can design their own waste management and collection system where customers can return the products once it is no longer useful. The collected waste can then be channeled to authorized recyclers or dismantlers.

Another approach is to delegate the responsibility of collecting and recycling waste to a PRO (Producer Responsibility Organization). These organizations will manage the collection, sorting, storing, recycling, and other crucial steps needed to properly dispose of, and treat products in an environmentally sound manner.

A Practical Approach To EPR Plastic Waste Reporting For FMCG is a multi-dimensional approach and a remarkable move that addresses surging pollution through regulatory compliances. FMCGs are mandated to register and secure EPR certificates and submit an action plan specifying how they intend to manage their waste and how they will meet their EPR targets. In addition, these entities are obliged to file annual returns to the concerned authorities providing details on the quantity of waste collected, disposed of, and treated.

Conclusion

In India, EPR Certificate regulatory framework has played a pivotal role in shifting the responsibility of managing and treating plastic waste, electronic waste, battery waste, and tyre garbage in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner. For this, producers, importers, and brand owners are encouraged to establish their own collection centers, collaborate with recycling facilities, and set up take-back programs.

The enactment and implementation of EPR statutory rules is an endeavor to make producers responsible for the environmental consequences of their products throughout their lifecycle, i.e., during production as well as when consumers are done using them. The strategic approach is crucial to ensure the ethical disposal of waste stemming from commercial operations of PIBOs. Connect with the EPR professionals of Legal Raasta Private Limited to better understand the nuances of EPR certification and compliances that businesses must fulfill to remain legally compliant and avoid any legal and financial repercussions.