From policy promise to ground reality Tracking Manipur’s plastic policy three years on
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Dr Sonia Henam
Three years after notification, the State’s comprehensive framework shows both promise and concerning gaps
In June 2022, Manipur joined the ranks of environmentally progressive Indian States by notifying one of the most detailed plastic management frameworks in the country. The Manipur Plastic Policy, 2022, went beyond symbolic single-use plastic (SUP) items bans to create a comprehensive regulatory architecture — complete with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mechanisms, institutional structures spanning all governance tiers, and enforcement protocols tailored to a frontier State’s unique challenges.
Nearly three years on, the policy offers crucial lessons about what happens when ambitious environmental design meets ground realities in geographically complex, resource-constrained States.
What Manipur Got Right
The policy’s architecture deserves recognition. Unlike many State-level plastic regulations that simply rehash Central notifications, Manipur designed a multi-tier governance system acknowledging its valley-hill administrative comple- xity. Plastic Waste Management Cells mandated across urban local bodies, autonomous district councils, and gram panchayats reflect an understanding that centralized waste governance fails in remote geographies.
The policy also demonstrated foresight on cross-border challenges. By explicitly directing district administrations to prevent plastic imports from Myanmar, it recognized what mainland policies often miss : porous trade routes can undermine domestic bans. This isn’t just theoretical— cheap plastic carry bags crossing informal border markets remain a persistent enforcement challenge.
Most significantly, the policy’s emphasis on EPR— requiring producers, importers, and brand owners to manage end-of-life plastic waste and help finance its collection and recycling, instead of leaving the burden only on local Governments—signals systems thinking rather than mere prohibition.
Implementation: A Work in Progress
Yet policy design and ground reality diverge sharply on several fronts.
SUP enforcement, while moderately visible in urban markets, remains uneven. Informal retail networks continue using low-cost plastic alternatives, and border enforcement —despite policy acknowledgment — struggles operationally. Coordination between environ- mental regulators, border security and market authorities is complex and resource-intensive.
EPR implementation is nascent at best. Large FMCG brands operate through distributor networks with no direct State presence, making accountability difficult. Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs)—essential for operationalizing reverse logistics—have minimal North East footprint. High transport costs in hill geographies discourage private investment in collection systems. The promised buyback and deposit-refund mechanisms exist largely on paper.
Recycling infrastructure remains the critical bottleneck. The North East has historically relied on transporting recyclables to mainland processing hubs — an economically and environmentally inefficient model. Without regional recycling clusters, circular economy ambitions will remain aspirational.
The Problematic Solutions: Rethinking “Disposal”
Perhaps most concerning is the policy’s promotion of questionable end-of-life solutions that deserve immediate reconsideration.
Plastic waste in road construction—presented as a “low-cost, high-impact intervention”—is increasingly viewed with scientific skepticism. While it appears to divert waste from landfills, recent studies demonstrate it essentially locks toxic materials into infrastructure that will eventually degrade. Research confirms that plastic-modified pavements release microplastics through vehicle traffic friction and weathering, with these particles infiltrating soil, water bodies, and the atmosphere. Road resurfacing and repairs decades later are likely to generate problematic plastic-bitumen waste. Experts acknowledge that materials designed to contain plastics cannot achieve complete containment as everything built in natural environments degrades over time. Yet no established protocols exist for safely separating and disposing of aged plastic-asphalt mixtures.
What looks like recycling today may be creating tomorrow’s environmental liability.
Waste-to-energy (WTE) promotion, as highlighted in the policy, reflects outdated thinking. Growing global evidence shows that WTE facilities struggle to deliver both economicand environmental performance. These highly capital-intensive plants demand a steady, high-volume waste stream to remain viable—something unrealistic for a small state like Manipur. For instance, the Lamdeng Solid Waste Management plant in Manipur functions primarily as a landfill and composting facility, despite being promoted as a “waste-to-energy” project. Its much-touted upgrade to WTE has failed to deliver meaningful energy generation. While the plant performs a valuable role in waste disposal, labeling it a successful WTE facility is misleading. More concerning, incinerating waste— especially plastics—releases toxic emissions such as dioxins and furans, contributing to air pollution and creating challenges for ash disposal.
European countries, which pioneered WTE, are now shifting toward authentic circular economy approaches after learning from these costly setbacks. Manipur would be wiser to heed these lessons and avoid repeating such expensive failures.
Both approaches reveal a concerning pattern: treating plastic waste as a disposal problem rather than a design flaw requiring upstream intervention.
Three Strategic Corrections Needed
First, prioritize genuine recycling infrastructure through regional collaboration. A North East recycling hub serving multiple States could achieve economies of scale impossible for Manipur alone. This requires interstate coordination facilitated by Central Government support — but the alternative is continued reliance on costly, inefficient transport to mainland facilities.
Second, operationalize EPR through innovative compliance mechanisms. Small States need shared platforms that allow brand owners to fulfill obligations across the North East collectively. PROs won’t invest in state-by-state infrastructure, but they might engage with regional solutions. Manipur could lead by convening a North East EPR Working Group.
Third, integrate informal waste collectors formally. The policy acknowledges waste pickers but offers no operational integration model. Cooperative structures or micro-enterprise or self-help group-support could formalize collection networks, improve recovery rates, and create local livelihoods precisely the kind of inclusive circular economy that frontier regions need.
The Larger Policy Lesson
Environmental transitions in frontier States don’t follow metropolitan timelines or models. They’re slower, more complex, and deeply shaped by geography, market scale and administrative capacity. Manipur’s plastic policy isn’t weak—it’s arguably too ambitious relative to current implementation capacity.
But ambition isn’t the problem. The challenge is sequencing: prioritizing interventions that build systemic capacity while avoiding solutions that create future environmental debts.
The choice to promote plastic roads and WTE reflects the seductive appeal of “quick fixes” that appear to make waste disappear. True circular economy thinking requires harder choices: reducing plastic production, designing for genuine recyclability, building regional infrastructure, and accepting that some interventions simply take time.
Equally, no plastic policy will succeed without citizen participation. Segregation at source, reduced dependence on single-use plastics, and community-led monitoring are not peripheral actions—they determine whether policy works on the ground.
Manipur has created an important governance foundation that many States still lack. If it can now shed problematic disposal approaches, strengthen EPR accountability, and lead regional cooperation, it could evolve from policy adopter to pioneer—demonstrating how geographically complex States can navigate environmental transitions without compromising long-term ecological integrity.
Three years in, the policy framework stands. The question now is whether Manipur will double down on genuine systems change or take the easier path of disposal solutions dressed as circular economy innovation.
The State’s environmental future — and its potential to model sustainable governance for the North East—depends on making this choice clearly.
Dr Sonia Henam is a senior environmental professional and policy researcher working on waste management, plastic pollution and circular economy transitions across India and the Global South
Three years after notification, the State’s comprehensive framework shows both promise and concerning gaps
In June 2022, Manipur joined the ranks of environmentally progressive Indian States by notifying one of the most detailed plastic management frameworks in the country. The Manipur Plastic Policy, 2022, went beyond symbolic single-use plastic (SUP) items bans to create a comprehensive regulatory architecture — complete with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mechanisms, institutional structures spanning all governance tiers, and enforcement protocols tailored to a frontier State’s unique challenges.
Nearly three years on, the policy offers crucial lessons about what happens when ambitious environmental design meets ground realities in geographically complex, resource-constrained States.
What Manipur Got Right
The policy’s architecture deserves recognition. Unlike many State-level plastic regulations that simply rehash Central notifications, Manipur designed a multi-tier governance system acknowledging its valley-hill administrative comple- xity. Plastic Waste Management Cells mandated across urban local bodies, autonomous district councils, and gram panchayats reflect an understanding that centralized waste governance fails in remote geographies.
The policy also demonstrated foresight on cross-border challenges. By explicitly directing district administrations to prevent plastic imports from Myanmar, it recognized what mainland policies often miss : porous trade routes can undermine domestic bans. This isn’t just theoretical— cheap plastic carry bags crossing informal border markets remain a persistent enforcement challenge.
Most significantly, the policy’s emphasis on EPR— requiring producers, importers, and brand owners to manage end-of-life plastic waste and help finance its collection and recycling, instead of leaving the burden only on local Governments—signals systems thinking rather than mere prohibition.
Implementation: A Work in Progress
Yet policy design and ground reality diverge sharply on several fronts.
SUP enforcement, while moderately visible in urban markets, remains uneven. Informal retail networks continue using low-cost plastic alternatives, and border enforcement —despite policy acknowledgment — struggles operationally. Coordination between environ- mental regulators, border security and market authorities is complex and resource-intensive.
EPR implementation is nascent at best. Large FMCG brands operate through distributor networks with no direct State presence, making accountability difficult. Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs)—essential for operationalizing reverse logistics—have minimal North East footprint. High transport costs in hill geographies discourage private investment in collection systems. The promised buyback and deposit-refund mechanisms exist largely on paper.
Recycling infrastructure remains the critical bottleneck. The North East has historically relied on transporting recyclables to mainland processing hubs — an economically and environmentally inefficient model. Without regional recycling clusters, circular economy ambitions will remain aspirational.
The Problematic Solutions: Rethinking “Disposal”
Perhaps most concerning is the policy’s promotion of questionable end-of-life solutions that deserve immediate reconsideration.
Plastic waste in road construction—presented as a “low-cost, high-impact intervention”—is increasingly viewed with scientific skepticism. While it appears to divert waste from landfills, recent studies demonstrate it essentially locks toxic materials into infrastructure that will eventually degrade. Research confirms that plastic-modified pavements release microplastics through vehicle traffic friction and weathering, with these particles infiltrating soil, water bodies, and the atmosphere. Road resurfacing and repairs decades later are likely to generate problematic plastic-bitumen waste. Experts acknowledge that materials designed to contain plastics cannot achieve complete containment as everything built in natural environments degrades over time. Yet no established protocols exist for safely separating and disposing of aged plastic-asphalt mixtures.
What looks like recycling today may be creating tomorrow’s environmental liability.
Waste-to-energy (WTE) promotion, as highlighted in the policy, reflects outdated thinking. Growing global evidence shows that WTE facilities struggle to deliver both economicand environmental performance. These highly capital-intensive plants demand a steady, high-volume waste stream to remain viable—something unrealistic for a small state like Manipur. For instance, the Lamdeng Solid Waste Management plant in Manipur functions primarily as a landfill and composting facility, despite being promoted as a “waste-to-energy” project. Its much-touted upgrade to WTE has failed to deliver meaningful energy generation. While the plant performs a valuable role in waste disposal, labeling it a successful WTE facility is misleading. More concerning, incinerating waste— especially plastics—releases toxic emissions such as dioxins and furans, contributing to air pollution and creating challenges for ash disposal.
European countries, which pioneered WTE, are now shifting toward authentic circular economy approaches after learning from these costly setbacks. Manipur would be wiser to heed these lessons and avoid repeating such expensive failures.
Both approaches reveal a concerning pattern: treating plastic waste as a disposal problem rather than a design flaw requiring upstream intervention.
Three Strategic Corrections Needed
First, prioritize genuine recycling infrastructure through regional collaboration. A North East recycling hub serving multiple States could achieve economies of scale impossible for Manipur alone. This requires interstate coordination facilitated by Central Government support — but the alternative is continued reliance on costly, inefficient transport to mainland facilities.
Second, operationalize EPR through innovative compliance mechanisms. Small States need shared platforms that allow brand owners to fulfill obligations across the North East collectively. PROs won’t invest in state-by-state infrastructure, but they might engage with regional solutions. Manipur could lead by convening a North East EPR Working Group.
Third, integrate informal waste collectors formally. The policy acknowledges waste pickers but offers no operational integration model. Cooperative structures or micro-enterprise or self-help group-support could formalize collection networks, improve recovery rates, and create local livelihoods precisely the kind of inclusive circular economy that frontier regions need.
The Larger Policy Lesson
Environmental transitions in frontier States don’t follow metropolitan timelines or models. They’re slower, more complex, and deeply shaped by geography, market scale and administrative capacity. Manipur’s plastic policy isn’t weak—it’s arguably too ambitious relative to current implementation capacity.
But ambition isn’t the problem. The challenge is sequencing: prioritizing interventions that build systemic capacity while avoiding solutions that create future environmental debts.
The choice to promote plastic roads and WTE reflects the seductive appeal of “quick fixes” that appear to make waste disappear. True circular economy thinking requires harder choices: reducing plastic production, designing for genuine recyclability, building regional infrastructure, and accepting that some interventions simply take time.
Equally, no plastic policy will succeed without citizen participation. Segregation at source, reduced dependence on single-use plastics, and community-led monitoring are not peripheral actions—they determine whether policy works on the ground.
Manipur has created an important governance foundation that many States still lack. If it can now shed problematic disposal approaches, strengthen EPR accountability, and lead regional cooperation, it could evolve from policy adopter to pioneer—demonstrating how geographically complex States can navigate environmental transitions without compromising long-term ecological integrity.
Three years in, the policy framework stands. The question now is whether Manipur will double down on genuine systems change or take the easier path of disposal solutions dressed as circular economy innovation.
The State’s environmental future — and its potential to model sustainable governance for the North East—depends on making this choice clearly.
Dr Sonia Henam is a senior environmental professional and policy researcher working on waste management, plastic pollution and circular economy transitions across India and the Global South