India: Ban on import of solid plastic waste

As announced in a recent article of the Times of India, the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has amended their Hazardous Waste (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 to completely prohibit the import of solid plastic waste.

The Ministry press release announcing the ban states: “Solid plastic waste has been prohibited from import into the country including in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and by Export Oriented Units (EOU)”.

While the release was issued on March 1 2019, it does not specify when the ban will come into force. However, in the Times of India article a Ministry official qualified the change in regulation as immediate.

BIR will continue to monitor this issue on behalf of its members and send updates accordingly.