India saw over 5,000 producers, importers and brand owners (PIBOs) registering for extended producer responsibility (EPR) in the last one year, the Union Environment Ministry said on Friday.
Extended producer responsibility is a mechanism where companies have to ensure that their products are collected and recycled at the end of their useful life, rather than being disposed of in a landfill or incinerated.
The ministry also said 2.26 million tonnes of plastic packaging has been covered under EPR for the year 2022-23. India generated a total of around 3.4 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2019-20.
“From around 310 registered producers, importers and brand owners (PIBOs) before the notification of the EPR guidelines on February 16, 2022, the number of PIBOs registered on the centralised EPR portal on plastic packaging has gone up to around 5,400,” the ministry said in a statement.