India Proposes Recycled Plastic Routes For Food Packaging

India’s Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) has proposed two additions to its food-packaging rules governing recycled plastics. The draft notification, signed on 2 November and published in the Gazette on 3 November 2026, concerns food-contact materials and multilayer packaging. It is a consultation proposal, not an adopted permission.

Chemical Recycling Conditions

Proposed clause 4(4)(f) would allow recycled polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) produced through chemical recycling, as defined in IS 14534, using the monomer route. The resulting material would have to be considered equivalent to virgin material and meet the criteria applicable to virgin material. The draft therefore specifies both the production route and the conditions for the output. Draft regulations, clause 2(1).

Multilayer Packaging

Proposed clause 4(4)(g) addresses a separate use: recycled polymer derived exclusively from food-grade packaging material in the outermost layer of multilayer packaging intended for food contact.

The inner layers would need adequate barrier properties to prevent substances migrating from the outermost layer into food. The packaging would also have to meet the migration limits already prescribed for packaging materials. The proposed clause does not describe unrestricted use of recycled material in the food-contact layer. Draft clause 4(4)(g).

Consultation Period

The proposal would insert these clauses after clause 4(4)(e) of the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations, 2018. The notification identifies those regulations as the instrument being amended.

FSSAI will consider objections and suggestions received within 60 days from the date copies of the Gazette containing the notification are made publicly available. The notification does not separately establish that availability date, so it does not confirm a calculated calendar closing date.