6 lakh fake pollution-trading certificates unearthed in three States

6 lakh fake pollution-trading certificates unearthed in three States

Sub: Env

Sec: Pollution

Context: The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2023 had unearthed more than 6,00,000 fake pollution-trading certificates

What is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) certificates?

• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) certificates are used by companies that use plastic packaging. Certificates are generated by registered plastic waste recyclers, who collect plastic waste and recycle them.
• Extended Producers Responsibility is essentially the use of financial incentives to encourage manufacturers to design environmentally friendly products by making producers accountable for their product management during end-stage consumption.
• It differs from product stewardship as it relieves the government from the burden of managing certain products by making manufacturers internalize the cost of recycling within the product price.
• EPR is carried out bearing in mind that brand owners have the greatest control over product design and hence are in a better position to design their products in such a manner that it will reduce harmful effects on the environment as a whole.
• Extended Producers Responsibility is done through, reuse, buyback, or recycling. The producer has also the option of delegating this responsibility to a third-party which can be paid by the producer for used-product management.

• This shifts the responsibility for waste management from the government to private industries, making it easy for producers or sellers to internalise waste management and ensure the safe handling of their products.

More About News:

• . The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2023 had unearthed more than 6,00,000 fake pollution-trading certificates from audits at four plastic-recycling companies in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka, public documents show
• Multiple sources from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and from the plastic waste recycling industry confirmed that the potential number of fake certificates could be manifold as these were only four of the 2,348 plastic waste recyclers registered with the
• Between 2022-23, the latest year for which information is available, there were about 18,000 companies that use plastic packaging and were registered with the CPCB, which manages the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, as either producers, importers or ‘brand-owners’.
• The Plastic Waste Management Rules mandate all companies that use plastic packaging to register with the CPCB. These EPR certificates, are used by thousands of companies that use plastic packaging in some form for business operations and are legally obliged to either ensure that a prescribed percentage of the plastic used annually is collected and recycled, or that they buy enough certificates to make good on their targets.
• Every tonne of plastic recycled by them generates a certificate.
• As per a report by the CPCB this May, nearly 7 million tonnes worth of certificates were generated but given that companies have differing obligations, the exact number of certificates they buy from recyclers is not clear.
• While 6,00,000 fake EPRs were bought by packaging companies as part of meeting their obligations, is unclear who bought these certificates as the break-up is not publicly available.
• The details vary, but the basic pattern in how recyclers produced fake certificates is similar. The four recycling companies, Enviro Recyclean Pvt. Ltd (Karnataka), Shakti Plastics Industries (Maharashtra), Technova Recycling India Pvt. Ltd and Asha Recyclean Pvt. Ltd, were hauled up for claiming to have generated many more EPR certificates than the installed capacity of their plants.
• The malpractice came to light after the CPCB conducted physical checks on their premises.
• Certificates generated by recycling companies are considered legitimate only if the recyclers are actually able to sell the recycled plastic.
• Companies were expected to file their compliance targets for 2023-24 by June this year.

Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022

• The Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022, introduce guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)for plastic packaging.
• These guidelines set mandatory targets forEPR, recycling of plastic packaging waste, reuse of rigid plastic packaging, and the use of recycled plastic content.