The Excise Department’s move from paper Excise Adhesive Label (EAL) on Indian Made Liquor (IML) bottles to non-biodegradable polyester ones has the green activists up in arms. The move, they argue, is in clear violation of the Plastic Waste Management Rules of the Environment Protection Act and the ban on the use of plastic by the State government.
The tender in January 2018 called for the supply of polyester-based EALs — 32 crore labels per month for three years. The financial bids are yet to be opened. This has been challenged in multiple forums.
The Environment Support Group (ESG), a Bengaluru-based NGO, has asked the National Green Tribunal to declare the tender void and give directions to revert to paper-based EALs.
Ramprasad, a solid waste management activist, has challenged the tender in the Karnataka High Court. “The shift from paper to polyester EALs is a solid waste management nightmare. As it’s not possible for all the labels to be ‘harvested’ from every bottle, they will remain in the soil, and can also clog drains,” said Ramprasad.
“Polyester is non-biodegradable. The tender will lead to the production of a total of 1,152 crore labels, amounting to 1,140 tonnes of plastic waste,” said Leo Saldanha of ESG.
Excise Commissioner M. Manjunath Naik defended the move on two counts: a technical expert committee recommended polyester based EALs. Furthermore, a move to polyester was necessitated as the industry was for long demanding mechanical application of labels, which is not possible with paper-based labels.
While the excise commissioner argues that the shift was based on the report of the technical committee, there are significant differences in the tender document and recommendations of the technical committee, copies of which are available with The Hindu .
The first committee, which was formed in 2014, recommended use of paper-based EALs. The government formed a second committee in 2017, which, while recommending paper EALs also allowed for the use of bio-degradable polyester-based EALs.
“The technical committee report clearly says bio-degradable polyester-based EAL. But nowhere in the tender document is the word bio-degradable mentioned. It only says polyester-based EAL, which is non-biodegradable, and hence a threat to the environment,” said Ramprasad.
“The tender is being contested in the high court and the NGT,” said Mr. Naik.
