Member of Parliament Kartikeya Sharma brought up the issue of the persistent usage of plastic wrapping for food packaging on Thursday.
The Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Ministry stated in a written response to the Upper House that a total of 6186 Producers, Importers, and Brand Owners (PIBO) have been registered as per the guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility for Plastic Packaging guidelines announced on 16 February, 2022. For the years 2022–2023, there are now 2.32 million tonnes of plastic packaging covered under extended producer responsibility, which includes plastic packaging used for food packaging.
Kartikeya Sharma inquired about the measures the government has been taking to stop the usage of plastic packaging; In the written reply, “The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) categorically said that science based standards have been maintained to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale, and import for the safety of humans.” FSSAI has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations, 2018, which prescribe general and specific requirements for different food packaging materials, including plastics. These regulations also specify that paper, glass, metals, and plastic materials, if used for packaging food stuffs, shall be manufactured in accordance with GMP and various national/international standards.
The following regulatory measures have been taken by FSSAI to enable the food and beverage industry to reduce their plastic foot print:-
Guidelines are being issued for the use of bamboo as food contact material. Allowed serving drinking water in paper-sealed reusable glass bottles for captive use within the hotel premises, subject to certain conditions; removed the restriction on the use of returnable bottles for the packaging of artificially sweetened beverages.
Permit the use of liquid nitrogen dosing in PET bottles during the packaging of drinking water. Promotion of bio degradable packaging as part of the Eat Right India initiative encouraged food businesses to reduce their use of plastics.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change also launched “India Plastic Challenge – Hackathon 2021” to create awareness among students in colleges and universities to develop alternatives to banned single-use plastics. Two startups that created substitute packaging materials received awards. One start up developed a completely biodegradable alternative to thermocol from paddy straw waste. The other startup developed packaging material using seaweeds.”