CHANDIGARH, November 11
In a landmark enforcement drive, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has hauled up 14 leading consumer brands—collectively responsible for nearly 60% of the state’s hard-to-recycle plastic waste—and directed them to submit verifiable, time-bound action plans for collecting their post-consumer packaging.
“No company will be allowed to pollute Punjab. We will fix accountability and clean up every city,” declared PPCB Chairperson Reena Gupta.
The stern directive follows India’s first-ever state-level Plastic Waste Brand Audit 2025, conducted across six major cities: Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Mohali and Patiala.
Key findings that triggered the crackdown:
- From 6,991 kg of municipal solid waste sampled across diverse socio-economic zones, 613 kg (nearly 9%) was plastic.
- 88% of this plastic is multi-layered, low-value packaging that is virtually non-recyclable.
- A forensic audit of 11,810 plastic packets revealed that just 14 brands account for 59% of the non-recyclable waste mountain.
The PPCB has slammed the practice of brands meeting Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations through dubious inter-state certificates or paper transactions that do nothing to reduce Punjab’s actual plastic burden.
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Brands have been instructed to roll out consumer-facing take-back mechanisms, deposit-refund schemes or authorised collection networks with on-ground proof of plastic recovered and recycled within Punjab.
The Board has made it clear: future EPR compliance will be measured only by actual kilograms collected and processed inside the state, not by certificates bought elsewhere.
PPCB has ramped up its monitoring and enforcement machinery and vowed sustained collaboration with industry to transition Punjab towards a truly circular, plastic-responsible economy.
More summons and penalties are on the cards if the 14 brands fail to deliver credible roadmaps in the coming weeks.
