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Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) Guidelines for Plastic Waste Management

  • February 24, 2023
  • Update date: March 30, 2025
  • Dushyant Sharma

Did you know that every plastic producer in India has a responsibility beyond just making products? This is called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) under the Plastic Waste Management Rules. Simply put, businesses that manufacture plastic must also ensure its proper disposal or recycling to help reduce pollution and protect the environment.

To make sure companies follow these rules, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issues an EPR certification—a stamp of approval that a business is managing plastic waste responsibly.

If you're looking to start a plastic-related business in India, understanding these guidelines is crucial. In this article, we’ll walk you through the essential CPCB regulations and what you need to know to get EPR certified.

CPCB Guidelines

The CPCB has subjected the following conditions for the manufacture, import-stocking, sales & distribution, and use of plastic carry bags, plastic sheets, covers made of plastic sheets and multilayered packaging:

 

CPCB Guidelines for Plastic Waste

 

Applicability of the Indian Standard of IS 9833:1981 for Plastic Colouration

Did you know that plastic carry bags and packaging must remain in their natural shade, without any added pigments? If colors are used, they must follow strict safety standards. In India, only pigments and colorants that comply with IS 9833:1981—a set of guidelines ensuring safety—can be used. This standard, known as the List of Pigments and Colourants, is designed to protect consumers by regulating plastics that come into direct contact with:

  1. Food and Beverages – Ensuring no harmful substances mix with what we eat and drink.

  2. Pharmaceuticals – Keeping medicines safe for consumption.

  3. Packaged Drinking Water – Maintaining purity and health standards.

Recycled Plastic Usage in India

You might not realize it, but the kind of plastic bag you use for food matters—a lot. In India, plastic carry bags made from recycled plastic cannot be used for storing, carrying, dispensing, or packaging ready-to-eat or ready-to-drink food items. This rule is in place to ensure food safety and protect public health.

If your business holds an EPR e-waste plastic registration, you should also know that using plastic bags—whether virgin or recycled—below 50 microns in thickness is strictly prohibited. To stay compliant, the plastic waste recycling process must follow the Indian Standard IS 14534:1998, which provides clear guidelines on recycling plastics safely and responsibly.

Permitted Thickness for Plastic Cover Sheets in India

For plastic sheets, a non-integral part of multilayered packaging and as well as plastic sheet covers used for packaging and wrapping products cannot be less than fifty micrometres in thickness. But, if the thickness of Plastic sheets impairs its product’s functionality, then the said regulation can be overridden. 

EPR registration mandatory for Raw Material Access

The plastic manufacturer cannot sell or arrange for plastics to be used as raw material to a plastic material producer if they do not possess a valid EPR registration certificate for plastic from any of the following Authority:

  • State Pollution Control Boards 
  • State Pollution Control Committee

Also, the sachets manufacturer cannot use plastics for storing, packing or selling tobacco and pan masala products. The thickness provision shall not apply to carrying bags of compostable plastic.

Plastic Bag from Compostable Plastics

If the EPR registration licensee wants to make plastic carry bags from compostable plastics, then he must conform to the Indian Standard: IS 17088:2008 titled Specifications for Compostable Plastics. The plastic manufacturers of compostable plastic bags must obtain the requisite certificate from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) before marketing such products. The EPR registration licensee for Plastic Waste management must not use plastic material in any form, such as the following in any package for packaging gutkha and tobacco in any structure:

  • Vinyl Acetate 
  • Maleic Acid 
  • Vinyl Chloride Copolymer

Plastic Waste Management in Urban Bodies 

The plastic waste managed by the urban local bodies in their jurisdiction must be recycled and channelized to a registered plastic waste recycler. Plastic recycling must conform to the Indian Standard: IS 14534:1998. The said standard is titled the Guidelines for Recycling of Plastics. 

Utilization of non-recyclable Plastics

Local Bodies must also encourage the plastic waste use which cannot be further recycled for any of the following purposes:

  • Road Construction, as per the Indian Road Congress guidelines 
  • Energy Recovery 
  • Prevention of Oil Wastage 

Every Extended Producer Responsibility EPR Plastic Waste Management certificate holder must uphold these standards as well as control norms by the Authority.

Thermos Plastic and Plastic Inserts

The EPR Licensee for Thermo-set Plastic Waste must process and dispose of the said plastic per the Central Pollution Control Board guidelines. Any inert from the Plastic Waste Recycling, as well as Processing facilities, must be disposed of in compliance with the Solid Waste Management Rules of 2000.

Is getting the EPR for plastic waste hard?

Yes and No. Any situation becomes challenging if you are not well-versed with its ifs and buts. As a Legal Advisory Firm, let us tell you that every registration procedure in the country is full of its ifs and buts. And the EPR registration for E-waste Management makes no exception to it.

Luckily, for your required registration, we have the necessary expertise. Our CPCB experts have been dealing with EPR registration procedures and compliance filing for over a decade. They have made an otherwise complex procedure into a simple plugin socket. 

So if you are involved in the Plastic business, and want to get the CPCB EPR registration for Plastic E-waste Management, then you can connect with our EPR experts. Just register your basic details with us, and our team will get in touch with you.

 

 

People Also read:

  1.   Everything you know about EPR License in India
  2.   Extended Producer Responsibility: Plastic Waste Rules 2022

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Author: Dushyant Sharma
Hey there, I'm Dushyant Sharma. With the extensive knowledge I've gained in past 8 years, I have been creating content on various subjects such as banking, insurance, telecom, and all the important registration and licensing processes for various companies. I'm here to help everyone with my expertise in these areas through my articles.

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