Page 32 - Plastics News September 2026
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ENVIRONMENT NEWS
Pollution Control Board (CPCB), changes that structure. One example of this approach comes
arrangement by design. Producers, importers from Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP). The
and brand owners are now assigned recycling company and packaging manufacturer Plastipak
and collection obligations tied to the volume and jointly established Infineo, giving both compa-
category of packaging they place in the market, nies a stake in PET recycling capacity. CCEP has
with targets that increase over time. also invested in CuRe Technology to support
the development of next-generation recycling
The shift is more significant than an additional processes. Together, these investments reflect
compliance expense. EPR changes who bears how some companies are investing directly in
the economic responsibility for packaging waste recycling infrastructure rather than relying solely
and creates a financial incentive to recover it. on the open market for recycled material. This
Companies must now account for collection, re- reflects a broader strategic shift: companies are
cycling and regulatory reporting as part of their increasingly treating verified recycling capac-
operating model. Decisions once driven primar- ity as infrastructure that secures future material
ily by material costs increasingly depend on the supply, reduces compliance risk and strengthens
long-term cost of compliance, access to verified procurement resilience.
recycling capacity and the ability to manage
those obligations efficiently. India is building the same market from a much
earlier stage. One of its most significant recent
EPR also transforms a regulatory obligation into developments has been the strengthening of
a commercial market. Every recycling target verification and enforcement mechanisms. In
creates demand for verified collection, process- April 2024, the Central Pollution Control Board
ing and certification. That demand, in turn, cre- (CPCB) introduced environmental compensa-
ates value for compliance credits generated by tion guidelines for EPR shortfalls, followed by
registered recyclers, encouraging investment audits that uncovered hundreds of thousands of
in recycling infrastructure and formal collection fraudulent recycling certificates and led to sub-
systems. As the OECD has observed, producer stantial financial penalties. Rather than signalling
responsibility schemes create the predictable a system in decline, those audits demonstrated
demand needed for recyclers to expand capac- that India’s compliance market had become for-
ity over time. In other words, regulation does mal enough to verify transactions at scale. As
more than raise compliance standards. It begins certificate verification, digital reporting and en-
to shape investment decisions, supply chains forcement continue to strengthen, verified re-
and market incentives across the packaging in- cycling capacity becomes increasingly valuable
dustry. because only documented recovery can satisfy
regulatory obligations. The result is a market
When compliance becomes infrastructure
where compliance depends not simply on recy-
Producer responsibility schemes in Europe have cling more material, but on building the formal
had years longer to mature, offering a glimpse of infrastructure capable of proving it.
how compliance evolves into commercial infra-
Who actually stands to gain
34 PLASTICS NEWS September 2026
