- Multi-layered plastics are made up of a layered composition of various types of plastics. This is a commonly used method because of the properties that the thus composed material acquires. Sometimes, the plastics material is also combined with non-plastics such as aluminium foil.
- Mixed plastics streams are generally separated on the basis of their density. Ensure that the density of the multi-layered plastics sufficiently deviates from that of the basic plastics types that are being recycled.
- Moreover, manufacturers say that they cannot do without MLP. “Indian supply chain works in areas with sub-zero mercury levels as well in regions where temperatures reach 50°C. The humidity too is sometimes 100 per cent. Moisture and gas transmission rates through packaging materials go up with increase in temperature and humidity, but MLP can survive all that,” says an official with the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation, on condition of anonymity. “An alternative material to match the performance of MLP is not yet available. However, we are working on mono materials and compostable laminates,” says Sanjib K Bezbaroa-vice president, Sustainability initiatives, ITC (see „Dealing with MLP‟).
- It stays in the environment forever because rag-pickers do not pick it up and the producers do not have a plan to meet their extended producer responsibility (EPR) to retrieve it from the open. The government too does not have a clue how to deal with these packets which are indestructible and add to garbage dumps.
- in 250 sites across 15 cities in India and found that 53 per cent of plastic waste in the cities was MLP. “Due to low source segregation and lack of continuous supply of MLP to the industries, it is not recycled,” says Pratibha Sharma, Indian Coordinator-GAIA.
- In 2016, the government passed the Plastic Waste Management Rules that mandated phasing out “non-recyclable multilayered plastic” in two years.
- But on March 27, 2018, it amended them and “non-recyclable multilayered plastic” was substituted with “multi-layered plastic which is non-recyclable or non-energy recoverable or with no alternate use”. This gave producers an escape route by claiming that the packaging material, if not recycled, can be put to some other use. MLP manufacturers used this loophole to continue to use the material.
- The 2016 rules also mandated companies to practise EPR and collect MLP that they have used to package their products. But they did not mandate a minimum percentage of the waste they must retrieve. Technically, companies can use MLP even if they retrieve just one per cent of what they sent in the market.
- But till this material is developed, companies must focus on collecting and recycling MLP waste. In Punjab, for instance, about 30 major food companies will launch an initiative with non-profit Punjab Plastic Waste Management Society, to collect MLP waste in the state on October 2.
- The initiative hopes to clean 95 per cent of the waste in the state by 2022,
- Similar EPR initiatives are being carried out in other states. In response to a notice by Ramanathapuram municipal commissioner S Parthasarathy in August 2018, PepsiCo India said that it would soon start collecting the plastic waste generated by its products in Tamil Nadu.
- In Maharashtra, PepsiCo India announced a collaboration with Delhi-based company Gem Enviro to collect and recycle MLP waste and “PET bottles” of any brand.
- “We care” initiative launched by five major food companies—PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd, Nestle India Ltd, PerfettiVan Melle India Pvt Ltd, Dabur India Ltd and Dharmpal Satyapal Ltd in Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Chandigarh, Dehradun and Mumbai in November 2017, aims to develop a sustainable value chain for recovering MLP waste through rag-pickers. The companies have involved Indian Pollution Control Association (IPCA), a Delhi non-profit, to educate rag-pickers that they should collect MLP and pays them Rs 1.5-2/kg
- The government needs to frame a comprehensive EPR policy with clear responsibilities of all the stakeholder throughout the lifecycle of MLP. Initiatives, like deposit-andreturn schemes or advanced disposal fee, should be enforced.
- It is also necessary to bring the informal sector into the mainstream of plastic waste management
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