new delhi after partially lifting the ban on import of plastic waste a few months back the government has now finally allowed recyclers to import 95105 tonnes of pet flakes to feed their plants even as domestic waste collectors and environmentalists express concerns saying the move will actually dilute indias existing policy on dealing with plastic waste causing more littering and pressure on landfills pet polyethylene terephthalate bottles are a category of singleuse plastic of which nearly 90 of the domestic supply is already recycled the government had in 2019 imposed a ban on its import as an attempt to promote domestic waste collection and encourage recyclers to use plastic waste available within the country the move was then seen as being supportive of ragpickers as well as recycling industriesthe threeyear ban was however partially lifted in march allowing only pet flakes to be imported since the import was opposed by many stakeholders including recycle india foundation and mumbaibased pandit deendayal upadhyay smiriti manch pdusm the issue was referred by the environment ministry to a technical review committee which has now recommended import with certain specific conditions the ministry accepted the recommendations allowing import of 95105 tonnes of pet flakes on august 24the committee argued that the decision kept in mind the need for sustaining a robust recycling chain to balance adequate availability of waste pet to recyclers it also flagged that the recycling sector acts as an anchor for the collection agents and without a robust recycling sector the collection effort cannot be sustained environmentalists and other stakeholders however dont buy this argument the move to allow import of pet waste dilutes the existing policy for plastic waste almost all the pet bottles in india are recycled to make polyester fibres polyester textile waste is not considered as plastic waste when it reaches the end of its life so we are essentially talking about pushing plastic waste into the textile waste stream with zero accounting and accountability said siddharth g singh programme manager centre for science and environment csemoreover singh apprehended the plastic waste recyclers who are the only stakeholders authorised to issue extended producer responsibility epr certificates will now be able to issue certificates to companies without actually collecting pet waste that is generated within the countrybefore recommending import of pet flakes only and not waste pet bottles with certain conditions the technical review committee trc of the ministry claimed to have deliberated on the issue in detail and heard views of representatives from recycle india foundation rif all india recycled fibre yarn manufacturers association airfyma and the pdusmraising their broader concerns these organisations flagged that the decision to allow import will result in lower requirement of local pet waste itll adversely impact the livelihood of 4050 lakh ragpickers across the country as they are dependant on pet bottle waste as their primary source of incomethe stakeholders also claimed that the ban on import of pet flakes and pet bottle waste had helped india achieve 8590 recycling