Tata Consumer Products, the consumer products Company, uniting the principal food and beverage interests of the Tata Group under one umbrella, has signed up as a founding member of the India Plastics Pact. The India Plastics Pact is a collaboration between the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and WWF India that brings together multiple stakeholders to set time-bound target-based commitments to transform the current linear plastics system into a circular plastics economy.

The Pact seeks to transform the entire plastics value chain through a public-private collaboration that enables innovative ways to eliminate, reuse, or recycle plastic packaging across the plastics value chain. This initiative unites businesses, the informal waste sector, governments, local authorities, and NGOs involved in producing, selling, collecting, and reprocessing plastic to work towards ambitious collective targets for change by 2030.

Ajit Krishnakumar, chief operating officer of Tata Consumer Products, commenting on the pact, said, “The India Plastics Pact is an important and much-needed initiative that will yield social, economic and environmental benefits. At Tata Consumer Products, sustainability lies at the core of our overall business approach, and we are happy to partner with other stakeholders to help transform the plastics value chain. Creating a circular economy in plastics is a key part of our sustainability strategy, and we look forward to making a positive impact. Tata Consumer is also a member of the UK Plastics Pact.”

The Pact targets, envisaged to be achieved by 2030, are developed to address the complex and long-standing challenges faced by the country and serve as a framework to counter them. The details of the four targets are as follows:

Target 1: Define a list of unnecessary or problematic plastic packaging and items and take measures to address them through redesign and innovation

Target 2: 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable or recyclable

Target 3: 50% of plastic packaging to be effectively recycled

Target 4: 25% average recycled content across all plastic packaging

The targets will drive the circularity of plastics and help tackle pollution. Still, they will also deliver significant GHG reduction through reducing fossil-derived plastics, greater use of recycled plastics, and increase in recycling.