India Plastics Pact - Aim, targets, significance, Know why India needs plastics pact

India Plastics Pact: India became the first Asian country to launch the India Plastics Pact on September 3, 2021. The India Plastics Pact was launched at Confederation of India (CII)’s 16^th Sustainability Summit. The Pact is a joint initiative between the CII and World Wide Fund for Nature – India (WWF India). The Pact was launched by the British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis on September 3, 2021. The India Plastics Pact aims at bringing together leading businesses at a national level to build a circular system for plastics.

Arvind Wable, President, WWF India said, “The India Plastics Pact provides a strong platform for Indian businesses to drive actionable, sustainable solutions and accelerate the transition toward a circular economy.”

What is India Plastics Pact?

The India Plastics Pact is a joint initiative between the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the World Wide Fund for Nature – India (WWF India). The Pact was launched on September 3, 2021, as an initiative to bring leading businesses together to build a circular system for plastics.

The Pact aims to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastics in the entire value chain of the plastics sector.

The Pact is supported by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and WRAP, a global NGO based in the UK. WRAP has been providing operational and technical support to Plastics Pact in the US, Australia, Africa, and Europe.

Aim of India Plastics Pact

The India Plastics Pact aims to:

•Empower businesses, government, and the entire plastics value chain to transition towards a circular economy for plastics in India,

•Stimulate innovative new business models to reduce the total amount of plastic packaging,

•Build a stronger recycling system to ensure that plastic packaging can be effectively recycled and converted into new products.

•Identification of blockages at incorporating recycling content in packaging, design of reusable packaging, and removal/elimination of unnecessary plastics packaging.

Targets of India Plastics Pact

The Pact comprises four targets which aim to reduce, innovate, and re-imagine plastic packaging. The targets of the Pact are to be achieved by 2030.

1. Ensure 100 per cent of plastic packaging is reusable or recyclable
2. Ensure 50 per cent of plastic packaging is effectively recycled
3. Ensure 25 per cent content recycled content across all plastic packaging
4. Create a list of unnecessary or problematic plastic packaging and take actions to address them through re-design and innovation

Significance of India Plastics Pact

The India Plastics Pact is the first of its kind initiative in Asia that will boost India’s efforts to limit single-use plastics and other initiatives in the renewable sector.

The Pact also provides a strong platform for Indian businesses to drive actionable, sustainable solutions, and move toward a circular economy.

The Pact also contributes to the key pillar of ‘Protecting the climate and environment’ of the 2030 Roadmap agreed by the UK PM Johnson and India PM Narendra Modi over the next decade.

The Pact also contributes to the Un-plastic Collective which is a platform co-partnered by UN Environment Programme-India, WWF India, and CII in 2019. The Un-plastic Collective aims to minimize the externalities of plastics on the social and ecological health of the planet.

Why does India need Plastics Pact?

India generates 9.46 million tonnes (MT) of plastic waste annually. Of the 9.46 MT, 40 per cent is not collected.

43 per cent which approximately half of all plastics produced in India are used in packaging, most of it is single-use plastic in nature.