Niti report suggests local bodies to give land for plastic waste management facilities

The private funding can be provided by brand owners, producers, importers or CSR activities, the handbook said, adding that the model can be initially funded by private players, supported by ULBs and operated by service providers.According to the Niti Aayog-UNDP handbook, a city will achieve financial sustainability in approximately five to six years if a dedicated amount of waste is processed and sold at feasible rates.

Government think tank Niti Aayog on Monday suggested that urban local bodies (ULBs) could provide land to set up a material recovery facility, which could be used by various industries to set up infrastructure for efficient plastic waste management.

The Aayog in a handbook on sustainable urban plastic waste management, jointly released with UNDP further said the recovery facilities and waste pickers need to be institutionalized by ULBs for long-term plastic waste management (PWM).

''ULBs could provide the land to set up a material recovery facility (MRF), which could be used by various industries to set up infrastructure for efficient PWM,'' the Niti Aayog-UNDP handbook said.

It further said the MRF model for PWM require to be funded and operated in the public-private partnership mode. ''The private funding can be provided by brand owners, producers, importers or CSR activities,'' the handbook said, adding that the model can be initially funded by private players, supported by ULBs and operated by service providers.

According to the Niti Aayog-UNDP handbook, a city will achieve financial sustainability in approximately five to six years if a dedicated amount of waste is processed and sold at feasible rates. Additionally, financial and infrastructure support is to be provided for setting up MRFs, it said.

India generates about 3.4 million tonnes of plastic waste per year and about 70 per cent of plastic packaging products are converted into plastic waste within a short period. In India, the Plastic Waste Management Rules were mandated in 2016, amended in 2018 and 2021, to manage waste at the city level.

Releasing the handbook, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said plastic waste management will become a 'Jan Andolan' in the country.

Kumar further said it is encouraging to observe that India's overall solid waste treatment capacity saw a steep rise from 18 per cent in 2014 to 70 per cent in 2021. He also noted that while urbanisation enables greater economic development in the country, the stress on urban local bodies to deliver efficient urban services, including efficient urban waste management, remains one of the significant challenges.

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