February 18, 2020
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
Maharashtra&China
PP sheets39;s environment minister said Wednesday that the government would
relax rules for neighbourhood grocery stores allowing them to pack commodities
such as rice and pulses in plastic.Representatives of companies including
Amazon, H&M, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, as well as plastic industry bodies and
lobby groups, met with Maharashtra government officials days before the ban came
into effect on June 23, urging them to implement the rule in phases and relax
some norms, said the four sources who declined to be named.
The Internet and
Mobile Association of India, which also counts Amazon and Flipkart as members,
said it had asked the state to ease the rules but did not specify what
relaxation it was seeking. Representatives of companies including Amazon,
H&M, Pepsi and Coca-Cola, as well as plastic industry bodies and lobby
groups, met with Maharashtra government officials days before the ban came into
effect on June 23.Nidhi Choudhari, Mumbai's deputy municipal commissioner, told
Reuters it has collected more than 1.The ban by Maharashtra could sharply raise
costs for companies that rely heavily on plastic for packaging, such as
retailers, beverage makers and sellers of bottled water. (Photo: File |
Representational) Mumbai: Multinational companies like Amazon Inc and H&M
are lobbying to soften a ban against single-use plastic imposed by Maharashtra
last week, according to four sources familiar with the matter. H&M said in a
statement that it supported reusing and recycling, adding that the company had
asked the government to clarify the rules and for help coming up with
solutions.Plastic packaging accounts for nearly half of all plastic waste
globally, and much of it is thrown away within just a few minutes of its first
use, according to the United Nations.
Our demand to the government is: give the
industry seven years to come up with alternatives," said Neemit Punamiya,
general secretary of the Plastic Bags Manufacturers Association of India, who
attended the meeting.An e-commerce industry source said that packaging charges
comprise about 2 per cent to 3.5 per cent of fulfilment costs - the price of
shipping, delivery and compensating sellers for discounts - and that the use of
biodegradable plastic or other alternatives could push these costs
higher.Beverage makers such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola, meanwhile, want an exemption
from the rules as they mandate a buyback of empty bottles at a guaranteed price,
which will raise costs, another source familiar with the talks said.Violations
could result in penalties of up to Rs 25,000 rupees and jail terms of up to
three months.For online retailers, cost is one of the main issues.Since the ban
came into force, squads of officials in Mumbai have been raiding shops and
restaurants, sometimes accompanied by police, to enforce compliance."
The
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, whose members include
online retailers such as Amazon India and Flipkart, said in a June 7 letter to
the state government that such a ban "will not be without its own share of
adverse environmental impacts which are largely driven by issues associated with
the use of alternatives".Bharati Chaturvedi, founder of # the Chintan
environmental advocacy group in New Delhi, said she feared the plastics industry
would use any compliance extensions to try to put off the ban
indefinitely.Maharashtra's move, the first such broad action against plastic by
any state, comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushes a plan to completely end
the use of single-use plastic in India by 2022.
They would, however, have to
ensure buyers return the packaging for recycling. Another official confirmed
that issues raised by the industry was being looked into..20 billion) a year and
nearly 300,000 jobs.3 million rupees in penalties so far. "It cannot happen
overnight - we've got investments, we've got loans to pay and people to
manage.H&M said that it supported reusing-recycling, adding that it had
asked government to clarify rules and for help coming up with
solutions.Enforcing ComplianceMaharashtra's plastic ban includes bags, food
containers, spoons, forks, glasses and packaging wraps - which the local
plastics industry says could cost it up to 150 billion rupees (USD 2.A senior
official told Reuters the government could moderate some aspects of the rule for
online retailers as well or give them more time to comply.Both officials
declined to be named as the talks are not public.
Cardboard boxes, for example,
could cost nearly a third more than plastic packing, according to industry
estimates cited by the Economic Times daily.Amazon, Flipkart, Pepsi and
Coca-Cola did not respond to requests for comment."We should really have a hard
ban," she said
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