EPR Management

Extended Producer Responsibility is a policy that the Indian Government has adopted to mitigate the environmental pollution problem in the country. Keeping our natural environment safe and working for its betterment is a rule in the Constitution of India. Article 21 guarantees the right to life which includes the right to live in a clean, healthy, and safe environment without pollution. Articles 48-A and 51-A (g) also relates to this notion. These articles of the constitution of India talk about the responsibilities of the states and citizens to protect the natural environment, have compassion for all living creatures, and safeguard the forests and wildlife.

The waste management rules in India prescribe responsibilities for various stakeholders relating to the generation, collection, storage and processing of waste. Mostly the EPR policy applies only to the waste types that are comparatively more harmful to the natural environment. It prescribes producers to complete the targets as per the products they push in the market each year. These producers need to understand the processes of EPR Management to properly fulfil their responsibilities. The EPR targets renew each year and hence result in a circular economy where producers of waste take responsibility for managing it at the end of its life.

What is EPR?

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a concept that places responsibility on the producers of goods to take care of their products even after the sale. It means that manufacturers are accountable for what happens to their products once people discard them. In simple terms, EPR ensures that companies are responsible for managing the waste and environmental impact of their products. This includes designing products that are easier to recycle, setting up a collection system, and establishing recycling plants and disposal facilities to process the product when they become waste. Implementing EPR shifts the burden of managing waste and protecting the environment, from the government and taxpayers to the companies that create products. This helps to reduce pollution, promote recycling, and encourage sustainable practices in the industrial landscape.

The EPR comes with various benefits for the environment. It benefits the involved stakeholders in many ways from various provisions of the waste management rules. The major benefits of extended producer responsibility are as follows-

• Proper Waste Management

EPR encourages the stakeholders to create systems that can run on automation and negate the problem of waste accumulation, environmental pollution and climate change. The system can assist all the connecting parties to cooperate with each other and provide visible results from the innovation in waste management.

• Clean and Healthy Society

Society gets a cleaner environment as the producers make efforts to fulfil their EPR targets by collecting, recycling and disposing of waste of various kinds. The government and pollution control authorities provide benefits for the producers and these producers provide the direct benefit of a clean environment to society.

• Prevents Soil Degradation

Landfills are full of various types of waste. They degrade nearby soil with the pollutants contained. EPR policy encourages the producers to get EPR certificates from the recyclers so producers deposit their waste at recycling plants instead of dumping it into landfills. It prevents the creation of landfills and further avoids the risk of soil degradation.

• Prevents Water Pollution

Another way of improper disposal of waste is to dump it in the open and if such sites are located near a river, the rainwater can transport the pollutants of this waste from the dumping site to the river. It causes water pollution on a very large scale but we can avoid it by the proper implementation of EPR.

• Prevents Air Pollution

The waste generators commonly throw many hazardous wastes into the junkyard. Some hazardous wastes release toxic gas when it comes in contact with air. The EPR policy ensures that the waste generators process their hazardous waste at designated disposal facilities and thereby saving the environment from air pollution.

• Entrepreneurship Development

New business opportunities are growing with the help of Extended Producer Responsibility. Now producers look for established recyclers that recycle a particular type of waste. Hence the entrepreneurs are also looking for the option of setting up waste recycling plants. They also receive an enormous amount of profit by selling the end products that generate after the recycling process.

• Business Profits

Industries that adhere to the EPR policy and complete their targets on time receive an indirect benefit of recognition from society. Through their seamless efforts for environmental welfare, they win the trust of their consumers and develop a positive business image that results in a boost in sales and monetary profits later on.

• Affordable Resource Availability

EPR policy stimulates the establishment of new recycling plants which generate raw materials by recycling waste and selling it to manufacturing plants. The manufacturers then use these recycled raw materials instead of fresh resources in their manufacturing process. It leads to sustainable development and saves our natural resources.

EPR Policy Of India

In India, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India notifies the laws relating to Waste Management. The government brings a new type of waste under the purview of EPR from time to time as per the necessity felt. In 2022 EPR regime covered tyre waste and battery waste. Before that, it only had e-waste and plastic waste. Now in 2023, the new amendment has been notified by MoEFCC which prescribes the applicability of EPR laws to waste oil as well. The waste oil and tyre waste are part of the Hazardous Waste Management Rules while E-Waste, Plastic Waste, and Battery Waste have their own dedicated Waste Management Rules. Including them all, there are five types of waste to which the Extended Producer Responsibility applies.

Extended Producer Responsibility applies to five types of waste. These notified wastes are as follows-

• EPR for E-Waste
• EPR for Plastic Waste
• EPR for Battery Waste
• EPR for Tyre Waste
• EPR for Used Oil

EPR for E-Waste

The E-Waste Management Rules of 2022 repealed the E-Waste Management Rules of 2016. These rules provide a definition of E-Waste which provides that electrical and electronic equipment including solar photovoltaic panels are e-waste if the user has discarded them after use and which do not suit for the refurbishing, repairing, and manufacturing processes. If a producer is doing business with these pieces of equipment then he requires to fulfil EPR obligations.

EPR for Plastic Waste

The Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules of 2022 amends the existing Plastic Waste Management Rules of 2016. It adds the provisions of Extended Producer Responsibility for Plastic Waste arising out of plastic products and packaging. These rules prescribed the definition of plastic waste as the plastic that the consumer has discarded after use and the intended purpose of this product is over. Further, plastic is any material that contains a high polymer as an essential ingredient. If a producer is doing business with these materials containing high polymers then he requires to fulfil EPR liabilities.

EPR for Waste Battery

The Battery Waste Management Rules of 2022 defines waste batteries as batteries that the users have discarded, expired batteries, pre-consumer off-spec batteries, used end-of-life batteries, and their components, parts, and spares. If a producer is selling and distributing these batteries in any manner then he requires to fulfil the EPR liabilities for Battery Waste.

EPR for Tyre Waste

The Hazardous Waste Management (Amendment) Rules of 2022 amended the existing Hazardous Waste Management Rules of 2016 and extended the applicability of Extended Producer Responsibility to Waste Tyres. This amendment to the HWM Rules defines waste tyres as the tyres, flaps and tubes that are not mounted on a vehicle and no longer serve their intended purpose. If a producer is doing any kind of business relating to waste tyres then he also requires to fulfil the EPR obligations under these rules.

EPR for Used Oil

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has recently notified the draft of the Hazardous Waste Management Rules of 2023. These rules extend the purview of Extended Producer Responsibility in India over the used oil and will come into force on 1st April 2024. The older HWM rules of 2016 define the Used Oil. It is the oil derived from crude oil or mixtures containing synthetic oil including spent oil, used engine oil, gear oil, hydraulic oil, turbine oil, compressor oil, industrial gear oil, heat transfer oil, transformer oil and tank bottom sludges. If you are producing, importing or recycling this used oil then you require to fulfil the EPR obligations.

List of Items Requiring EPR Management

The producers of the following items should ensure the management of waste generated from these items at the end of the product’s life. These items are as follows-

Extended Producer Responsibility includes various processes. These processes are registration, authorisation, seeking permissions, establishment of units, submission of reports, filing of returns, maintaining records etc. At various stages, the producers need to submit various documents for authentication and record-keeping purposes. The documents required for EPR Management are as follows-

• Identity and Address Proof of Responsible Person

The responsible person on behalf of the manufacturing company or recycling plant needs to submit his identity and address proofs for identification purposes when interacting with any authority. These documents may include Aadhaar Card, Driving Licence, PAN Card etc.

• Identity and Legality of Company

The authorities ask for company identity proof and evidence to prove the legality of your business. For this purpose, you need to submit Registration Details, CIN, Partnership Deed, Memorandum of Association, GST Registration, PAN Card of the Company, Board Resolution etc.

• For Importers

If you are importing any item that is covered under the EPR Management then you need to fulfil EPR liabilities just like producers. You need some specific documents like import export code, a list of imported products in an Excel sheet etc. to prove the legality of your import and to verify the amounts of products imported.

• Manufacturing Related Documents

The Central Pollution Control Board and SPCBs also request documents related to the production of the product. It includes process flow diagram etc. in which the producer explains the manufacturing process and it helps to determine the best recycling method for the product based on its manufacturing process.

• EPR Related Documents

The Producers need to submit an extensive EPR Plan to recycle or dispose of the products they have manufactured. It contains the timelines and must align with the obligation timelines as prescribed by the respective waste management rules. These documents include declarations, agreements, consents, authorisations, and signatures of authorised persons.

The process of fulfilling Extended Producer Responsibility can be divided into four major parts. These parts are as follows-

• EPR Registration
• Responsibilities of Stakeholders
• EPR Compliance
• EPR Target

Registration of Parties for EPR Management

It is also known as EPR Authorization given by the Central Pollution Control Board. The EPR Registration ensures that no party is producing notified waste and processing it without the knowledge of CPCB, SPCB and the Pollution Control Committee. Producers, Importers, Brand Owners, Manufacturers, Waste Generators, Refurbishers, and Recyclers need to obtain EPR Registration through the online EPR portal of CPCB. You need to submit the requisite application form for EPR Management Authorisation. The CPCB will examine the submitted form and grant the EPR Authorisation to the applicant. It acts as a license to undertake the waste management processes.

Responsibilities of Parties for EPR Management

The parties need to fulfil numerous responsibilities as prescribed under respective waste management rules. Some of the major responsibilities are as follows-

• All the stakeholders need to obtain the licence to manage waste through EPR registration.
• The producers should facilitate the collection, storage, recycling and disposal of the waste.
• The producers should ship the address of collection points and recycling plants along with the products to facilitate the waste collection.
• The stakeholders should file annual and quarterly returns in whatever manner prescribed by the waste management rules.
• The producers also need to run awareness campaigns to spread awareness among the general public regarding waste recycling and environmental protection.
• The recycler, refurbisher, and waste processors need to follow the standardised process of recycling and disposing of the waste.
• No manufacturing and recycling process should damage the environment.
• The stakeholders need to keep and maintain records of waste generated, circulated, recycled and disposed of and report the same to the Central Pollution Control Board.

Compliance for EPR Management

EPR Compliance is verified through the EPR Certificates. The proforma of these certificates are prescribed by the CPCB and the parties that process waste through recycling, refurbishing and disposing of issue these certificates to the waste generators. These waste generators need to purchase these certificates which further get adjusted towards their EPR liabilities. All the stakeholders also require to update every transaction related to the Extended Producer Responsibility Certificate on the portal of CPCB. The Central Pollution Control Board tallies all the details submitted by the producers and recyclers regarding the EPR Certificates. In case it finds any discrepancy between the two, the CPCB only considers the lower value.

The EPR certificates received by the recyclers mitigate the hundred per cent EPR liability of its worth but only a portion of the EPR certificate received by the refurbisher is considered when it comes to adjusting the EPR liability of the producer. This is because the product again comes in the market after refurbishing and the liability should be imposed on that too.

Extended Producer Responsibility Targets

The EPR targets are set by the waste management rules. These targets may also be updated from time to time through amendments. The EPR targets are set yearly and are based on the production of the producers in the last financial year. The producer requires to buy EPR Certificates for a certain per cent of the products placed in the market in that particular year by him. Hence it is directly proportional to the products shipped in the market by the producer. The EPR targets are prescribed to remove the maximum amount of waste from circulation in the minimum time possible.

If a producer is not able to complete the EPR target given in a particular year then he can complete the same in the next year along with the next year’s EPR target. For example, if he fulfilled the 3 points of liability in the present year out of the 5 points of liability incurred on him then he will be left with the 2 points of liability. Now if the next year’s liability is 7 points then he requires to fulfil the 9 points of liability in that year which is the current liability and leftover liability combined. If a producer is not able to fulfil these targets for a few years consecutively then the Central Pollution Control Board levies the environmental compensation on him.

The costs involved in EPR Management are paid against many heads. Some of the major heads are as follows-

• CPCB Fee for the Registration
• CPCB Fee for the filing of returns
• Collection, Storage, and Transport of Waste
• Running Awareness Campaigns
• Buying EPR Certificates

The fees for the registration on the CPCB portal to obtain EPR Authorisation vary depending on the type of waste you are dealing with. Further, it also depends on the capacity of a recycling facility and the production efficiency of a manufacturer. Accordingly, the stakeholders need to pay the fee and fulfil all requisite compliances for EPR Management.

We, at Corpseed, have a team having years of experience and extensive knowledge relating to various horizons of Waste Management Laws and Compliances applicable in India as well as the processes involved to get the EPR Liabilities fulfilled. We perform desk-based research, documentation, and coordination to provide consultation to clients in managing their Extended Producer Responsibility as prescribed by the applicable rules. For all your business needs, Corpseed acts as a one-stop solution.