Companies Economy Live May 18, 2025 0 Comments

Consumer product companies face challenges in implementing food-grade recycled plastic norms

The industry has also urged FSSAI to review guidelines for labelling of r-PET while seeking better alignment between BIS and FSSAI regulations on labelling and logos

With the regulations for recycled plastic packaging norms coming into effect from April 1, the consumer products industry is facing teething issues in implementation of norms for food-grade recycled PET.

Industry players said that there is a lack of enough supply of FSSAI-approved food-grade recycled PET material compared to the requirements of brands. At the same time, industry stakeholders have also urged the government to align labelling and logo-related guidelines of FSSAI with the environment ministry’s Plastic Waste Management rules to prevent “operational confusion.”

As per the regulations notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, consumer product companies will need to ensure 30 per cent of recycled plastic is used to make Category-1 packaging, which includes rigid plastics used in PET bottles, by FY26.

According to Association of PET Recyclers (Bharat), the r-PET manufacturers have set up a capacity of close to 4 lakh MT (commissioned) with an investment of about ₹8000 crore, which it expects will increase to 7.5 lakh MT by 2027.

However, only five of the 20 r-PET manufacturers have got FSSAI approvals for their facilities so far, industry players pointed out. Therefore brands are unable to avail this existing capacity completely.

A senior executive at a r-PET manufacturer, who did not wish to be identified, told businessline, “Following the guidelines issued by the Ministry on mandatory usage of 30 per cent recycled food-grade plastic content into PET bottles , several plants have come up in different parts of the country. While some of the plants have received the FSSAI nod, as many as 15 plants are still awaiting clearance from FSSAI, which has been getting delayed. We hope FSSAI will hasten up the process of granting its final nod so that these capacities can come onstream at the earliest. The guidelines have already come into effect as of April 1, 2025 and any further delay in granting the final nod by FSSAI will derail the whole process.”

On the Q4FY25 earnings call, Mohit Malhotra, CEO, Dabur India, pointed to the availability of limited capacity of recycled plastic and the fact that it is “more dearer “ as compared to the regular plastic, leading to implications for gross margins of companies. Malhotra also said he believes costs of recycled plastics will come down in the future as its usage grows.

The industry is therefore seeking some relaxations in terms of requisite targets. Pankaj Uppal, Manager- Public Policy, PACE (PET Packaging Association for Clean Environment), said, “The consumer products industry is fully in alignment with the government on the implementation of the PWM regulations. We are regularly updating MOEFCC regarding the status of the approved capacity. We have requested the Ministry that based on available volume flow, in terms of r-PET capacity which has been approved by FSSAI, the progressive annual targets can be suitably re-assigned to the obligated brand owners.”

Meanwhile, the industry has also urged FSSAI to review guidelines for labelling of r-PET while seeking better alignment between BIS and FSSAI regulations on labelling and logos.