Maharashtra-based FMCG companies selling water and beverages in PET bottles are unwilling to toe the line, despite the State government extending the plastic ban to PET bottles with less than 500 ml capacity.
From market leader in packaged water Bisleri to MNCs like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, none is willing to make any changes in their pack sizes to adhere to the recent ban.
“I do not know what we are going to do about the ban. Even Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have PET bottles and the 250-ml bottles are the largest in terms of volumes for most of the FMCG companies. There are millions of these bottles being sold every day in Mumbai and we are not planning to do anything about the ban for the moment as we sell about 2.5 lakh bottles a day in Mumbai city,’’ said Ramesh Chauhan, Chairman, Bisleri International.
Beverage company Parle Agro, the makers of Bailley water, Frooti and Appy beverages, also does not have any strategy in mind to combat the ban.
When contacted Nadia Chauhan, Joint Managing Director, Parle Agro, said she needed more time to come up with a suitable plan to face the ban.
Other MNCs like Coca-Cola is also on a wait-and-watch mode before taking advice from their legal and marketing teams about the future course of action in the State.
Apart from the ban on below 500 ml bottles, the other imposition is that consumers will have to pay ₹1 and ₹2 extra above the minimum retail price (MRP) for buying a PET bottle of 1 litre and above and 0.5 litre, respectively.
The additional 'buy-pack' price will be returned to the consumers once they take the bottle back to the retailer.
Such unrealistic demands imposed on the FMCG players is now been taken up by PACE (Pet Packaging Association for Clean Environment), which is meeting the State government this week to reconsider the ban.
“Such a ban on PET bottles below 250 ml has been imposed only in Maharashtra. Since there is no alternative to using PET bottles and it is not possible for manufacturers to shift their production lines overnight, we are now making another presentation to the State government and are willing to work along with them for management of plastic waste in the State,” said Vimal Kedia, President, PACE, which represents companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and United Breweries.
Kedia is also the Managing Director of Manjushree Technopak, the largest packaging manufacturer of PET bottles in the country.
“We make 1 lakh metric tonnes per annum of PET bottles and there have been no cancellation of orders from any of our clients so far,’’ added Kedia.