Can Extended Producer Responsibility improve circularity in India’s waste oil management

The Union Budget 2023-24, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has placed emphasis on sustainable development and a circular economy in India.

The country has been pushing on the circularity of the resources for the last two-three- years. The objective is to substitute natural resource consumption with equally valuable waste materials that otherwise would end up in landfills.

Some 11 committees were formed in March 2021 to expedite the country’s transition from a linear to a circular economy. Notable progress has been achieved by the respective nodal ministries on the Circular Economy Action Plans developed by NITI Aayog, according to the policy think tank’s annual report for 2022-23.

Recently, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has introduced a draft notification on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) on waste oil. Used oil can act as a contaminant as it contains benzene, zinc, cadmium and other impurities that have the potential to pollute freshwater. 

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EPR is applicable to producers and bulk generators (like industry, railways, transport companies, power transmission companies, etc.), according to the draft notification. It recommends the registration of stakeholders, including producers, collection agents, recyclers and waste oil importers, on Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) online portal.

The initiative can help the government bring waste oil collection and recycling under the aegis of the formal sector. It can also prevent informal backyard recyclers from flourishing, which may also pollute the environment by mishandling the waste oil and disposing of the same unscientifically.

The notification also talks about the EPR targets of waste oil recycling for producers and the applicable obligations, starting from 2024-25. The target for the base year is set as 10 per cent, which will increase gradually by 10 per cent every year till 2029. After this, the target will be set based on the quantity of lubrication oil sold or imported annually.

A provision for EPR certificate generation and the computation of the quantity eligible for the EPR certificate is also given. However, the conversion factors involved in the computation are yet to be decided by CPCB.

In addition, the transaction of the EPR certificate is also detailed in the draft notification. The notification also talks about an online portal which CPCB will set up for registration, filing of returns, EPR certificate generation and tracing of oil produced or generated by any registered agency.

MoEFCC has provided clear demarcations of the responsibilities of producers, waste oil importers, collection agents, recyclers, bulk generators, CPCB, State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB), states or Union Territories, municipalities, local self-governments etc.

The Bureau of Indian Standards is also entrusted with the important responsibility of setting up necessary standards for re-refined oil, which is used by producers of lubricants.

Environmental compensation has been included in the EPR along with prosecution in case of any agency providing false information for obtaining EPR certificates. Also, the prosecution for non-compliance will be in addition to the environmental compensation.

Also read: Regulations on used cooking oil come into effect; plans afoot to convert it into bio-diesel

 CPCB is the designated agency for verifying and auditing the agencies under the EPR notification. However, no specific time period has been mentioned by the MoEFCC for conducting such audits. A steering committee is proposed under the EPR to assess the draft notification’s implementation, monitoring and overall supervision.

However, it is to be noted that CPCBs and SPCBs are already overburdened with several responsibilities and are short on the workforce. There is a need for the government to identify a consulting agency (either public or private) which can be the monitoring and verification sub-agency acting under CPCB. And the agency should be held responsible for conducting the required inspections and audits under the EPR.

Certain questions need to be answered before this draft notification gets shaped into the final rules and comes into force: What is the mechanism for verification? Who is going to monitor the implementation of the rules? Who is going to audit it? What is the compliance mechanism that needs to be put in place? We cannot proceed with the anticipation of a third-party audit. It’s not easy to accept it unless the mechanism comes up.

However, Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science Environment considers EPR on waste oil as a laudable step, as this front doesn’t belong to the mainstream supply chain and whose mishandling will result in serious contamination of the environment, especially groundwater and surface water. Moreover, once notified by the government, it is expected to bring transparency in the collection and utilisation of waste oil which is lacking now.

“EPR on waste oil, which is being covered under hazardous waste, is a good initiative and the structure is very much similar to the previously released EPR rules on plastic and e-waste,” said Satish Sinha, director of Toxics Link, an environmental non-profit.

However, he seems to be concerned about the implementation part. “We should be concerned about monitoring and oversight mechanism as this is something that needs to be put in place.”

“Nothing can work unless we have a very strict monitoring and oversight, and there is a penalty for provision for penalising the defaulters,” emphasised Sinha. He also questioned the import of waste oil into the country.

The bottom line is that we need to improve upon the circularity of the waste oil within the system. The consumption of fresh oil should also be lowered, which will further reduce the use of resources by industries.

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