PWM Amendment Rules 2026: What Changed for Paper Carry Bag Converters

The Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2026 were notified on 31 March 2026 as G.S.R. 237(E) and took effect the same day. For a converter making plain kraft paper bags, nothing in them creates a new filing. What changed sits around the bag: tighter recycled-plastic targets on the plastic carry bags you compete with, a clearer map of who enforces the carry bag ban, from city corporations down to district panchayats, and a recycled-content marking rule.

This post reads the notification as published in the Gazette and sorts it into three piles: what applies to a paper bag converter, what applies to the competition, and what did not change at all. For the broader picture across food businesses and brand owners, our hub on what changed in the Plastic Waste Management Rules in 2026 covers the full four-year arc. This one stays on the bag line.

What did the PWM Amendment Rules 2026 actually change?

The 2026 amendment changed six things, and only one touches a paper bag’s own construction. It rewrote the recycled-plastic targets in Schedule II category by category, added a carry-forward for food-contact shortfalls, named local bodies and panchayats as enforcers, tied recycled plastic to IS 14534:2023 marking, let registered environment auditors verify EPR, and redefined end-of-life disposal and reuse.

The notification followed a draft, G.S.R. 365(E) of 3 June 2025, which was open for 60 days of objections. According to the Gazette text, the final rules came into force on the date of publication, so there was no transition window. The previous amendment was G.S.R. 73(E) of 23 January 2025, so this is the second amendment in fourteen months.

In the order the notification makes them:

1. Rule 3 rewrites several definitions. “End of life disposal” now means energy recovery, co-processing in cement or steel, waste-to-oil and road construction. Converting plastic back into feedstock or new plastic counts as recycling instead. “Reuse”, “seller” and “registered environment auditor” are newly defined.
2. Rule 11(2) now requires every recycled plastic package or commodity to conform to IS 14534:2023 and carry the recycled-content marking, plus any FSSAI labelling that applies to food contact.
3. New sub-rules 3A to 3C in rule 12 name the enforcers. The local body, the gram panchayat and the district-level panchayat are each named as the authority for enforcing the carry bag and banned-item provisions in their own area.
4. Under rule 16, the State Level Monitoring Committee is reconstituted under the Chief Secretary, and its members include the Panchayati Raj and rural development departments.
5. In rule 17 and Schedule II, a registered environment auditor can now do the verification work that only a designated agency could do before.
6. Paragraph 7 of Schedule II gets new category-wise recycled-content and reuse tables for producers, importers and brand owners, with a three-year carry-forward for 2025-26 food-contact shortfalls.

Does the 2026 amendment put paper carry bags under EPR?

No. A plain paper carry bag with no plastic layer is still outside the plastic EPR framework after the 2026 amendment, because the Plastic Waste Management Rules regulate plastic and the EPR categories in Schedule II are all plastic packaging categories. Nothing in G.S.R. 237(E) adds paper to them. The separate EPR rule for paper, glass and metal packaging is still a draft.

That draft was published by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in December 2024 with a proposed start of 1 April 2026. As we set out in our status check on whether paper packaging EPR is in force, the date passed without a final notification, and the CPCB EPR portal still has no paper category. According to Down To Earth’s analysis of the draft, it proposed a recovery target of about 70% for packaging paper in 2026-27. That figure is a proposal, not an obligation, and our explainer on what the draft paper EPR rules would mean for converters is the place to plan for it.

The picture changes the moment plastic enters the construction. A kraft bag that is PE-coated, laminated to a film or lined with a plastic layer is no longer a plain paper bag in the eyes of the rules. It becomes multilayered plastic packaging.

Multilayered plastic packaging (Category III) is packaging with at least one layer of plastic and at least one layer of another material, such as paper. It is defined in the 2022 EPR Guidelines in Schedule II of the PWM Rules, and the test is the presence of a plastic layer, not its share of the weight. Other terms used here, from GSM to burst factor and Cobb value, are defined in our paper converter glossary.

Our flexible packaging team has worked through which EPR category coated paper falls into and who carries the obligation in detail, including the grey zone around water-based dispersion coats that the rules do not name. For bag converters the practical point is simpler. If the bag has a plastic layer, check whether you are the producer before your customer asks.

Which bag constructions fall into which category after the 2026 amendment?

The category depends on what the bag is made of, not on what it looks like. Paper-only bags sit outside plastic EPR, plastic-coated or laminated paper bags fall in Category III, plastic carry bags in Category II and compostable plastic carry bags in Category IV. The 2026 amendment changed the recycled-content targets attached to Categories I to III, not the category definitions themselves.

Two caveats sit under that table. First, the recycled-content targets do not apply where another law or regulation, including an FSSAI rule, does not permit recycled plastic in that use. The producer has to cite that rule in its annual return to claim the exemption. Second, for Category III the gazette limits the target to the weight of the plastic layers, not the whole pack. A PE-coated kraft bag therefore carries its target on a few grams of polyethylene per square metre, not on the paper.

What do the new recycled-content targets mean for plastic carry bags?

They make the plastic carry bag a slightly more expensive and more documented product to sell. From 2025-26, Category II flexible plastic packaging, which includes plastic carry bags, must contain 10% recycled plastic. That holds at 10% for 2026-27 and doubles to 20% from 2027-28, according to the tables in G.S.R. 237(E).

The same tables set rigid Category I packaging at 30% for 2025-26, 40% for 2026-27, 50% for 2027-28 and 60% from 2028-29. Category III moves from 5% to 10% in 2027-28. Every recycled plastic package must also conform to IS 14534:2023 and carry the recycled-content marking, so a plastic bag maker now has a sourcing cost and a labelling cost that a plain paper bag maker does not.

Do not oversell this to customers. A 10% recycled-content requirement does not make a 120-micron plastic bag uncompetitive by itself, and recycled polyethylene is widely traded. What you can fairly tell a buyer is narrower than that. A paper carry bag sits outside this whole stack of targets, carry-forwards, certificates and audits, and that is a real simplification for a retailer’s compliance team, not a price claim.

Your customers may also bring up the carry-forward clause. A producer, importer or brand owner that missed its 2025-26 recycled-content target for food-contact plastic packaging can carry the shortfall for up to three years from 2026-27. It must clear at least one third of it each year on top of that year’s own target. That softens the 2026-27 pressure on food-contact plastic, which is one reason to expect a gradual shift rather than a sudden one.

Who enforces the carry bag ban now, and why does that matter for demand?

From 31 March 2026, the rules spell out which body enforces the carry bag and banned-item provisions at each level of local government. The urban local body enforces in cities, the local authority covers peri-urban areas beyond the city limit, the gram panchayat covers villages and the district-level panchayat covers its own jurisdiction. Where a city body and another local authority overlap, the city body takes charge.

The plastic carry bag thickness floor has not moved. Plastic carry bags below 120 micron have been prohibited since 31 December 2022 under the 2021 amendment, G.S.R. 571(E), and the list of banned single-use plastic items took effect on 1 July 2022. What the 2026 amendment adds is a cleaner answer to who polices those rules on the edges of cities and in rural districts, where enforcement has been thinnest.

Commercially, this is the change in the notification we would watch most closely. It is also the easiest one to overstate. Naming an enforcer is not the same as funding inspections. Peri-urban markets, highway towns and village weekly haats are where thin plastic bags have lasted longest, and the amendment now names a responsible body for each of them without ambiguity. If enforcement follows, the demand that appears there will be for cheap, light, plain bags: 40 to 60 GSM kraft or poster paper, simple flat handles or none, and short runs printed with a shop name. Our guide to what organised retail specifies for store bags covers the opposite end of the market and is a useful contrast on GSM and handle choices.

The reconstituted State Level Monitoring Committee points the same way. Its membership includes the Panchayati Raj and rural development departments alongside municipal administration and the State Pollution Control Board, which suggests that states are expected to report on rural compliance, not only urban.

What did the 2026 amendment not change for paper bag converters?

It did not create any paper standard, paper EPR obligation or paper carry bag specification. Paper EPR is still a draft, the CPCB portal still has no paper category, the 120-micron plastic carry bag limit is unchanged, and there is still no BIS standard for paper carry bags. Customers who say otherwise are reading something other than the Gazette.

That last point keeps coming up in tenders. As our note on BIS standards for paper carry bags explains, there is no Indian Standard for a paper carry bag, no quality control order and no ISI mark you can lawfully print on one. IS 1397:2020 covers kraft paper for packing and wrapping, which is your base paper, not your bag. The only standard the 2026 amendment names is IS 14534:2023, and that is a guideline for plastics recovery and recycling.

What should a paper bag converter do after the 2026 amendment?

Start with your product list. You do not need a consultant for this part. Most of the work is classifying what you already make, putting it on paper and knowing which side of the plastic line each SKU sits on. None of these steps needs paper EPR to be notified, and each one answers a question a retail or QSR buyer is already likely to ask.

1. Classify every SKU by construction. Mark each bag as paper-only, plastic-coated or laminated, windowed, or barrier-coated. The category follows the construction, so this list is the whole compliance map.
2. Write a construction declaration for paper-only bags. A one-page statement on letterhead listing the base paper, GSM, adhesive, ink system and handle material, and stating that there is no plastic layer. It settles most procurement questions in one email.
3. Settle producer status for any plastic-containing bag. If you coat, laminate or buy coated paper to make bags, work out with your customer who is the producer under the PWM Rules and who is registered on the CPCB EPR portal. Do not assume it is the brand owner.
4. Hold layer weights for Category III bags. The recycled-content target applies only to the plastic layer’s weight, so the producer filing the return will need grams of polymer per square metre from you.
5. Check the CPCB site for the recycled-content audit guideline. The amendment gave CPCB six months from 31 March 2026 to issue a guideline on auditing and verifying recycled content. That window closed at the end of September 2026, so check whether it has been published before you quote anything from it.
6. Keep watching the paper EPR draft. Look at the MoEFCC notifications page once a month. A final paper notification would change step 2 overnight, and it is the only event in this area that would.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to register on the CPCB EPR portal to sell plain paper carry bags?

No. A plain paper carry bag has no plastic layer, so it does not fall into any plastic EPR category, and the CPCB portal has no paper category because paper EPR has not been notified. If you also make or trade plastic-coated, laminated or plastic carry bags, check your producer status for those lines separately.

When did the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules 2026 come into force?

On 31 March 2026, the date they were published in the Gazette of India as G.S.R. 237(E). The notification gave no transition period. The draft had been published as G.S.R. 365(E) on 3 June 2025.

Is a PE-coated paper bag treated as plastic under the 2026 rules?

Yes, for EPR purposes. A paper bag with a polyethylene coating or film lamination has at least one plastic layer and one paper layer, which makes it Category III multilayered plastic packaging. From 2025-26 its producer faces a 5% recycled-content target, rising to 10% in 2027-28, calculated on the plastic layer’s weight only.

Did the 2026 amendment change the 120 micron rule for plastic carry bags?

No. The ban on plastic carry bags thinner than 120 micron has applied since 31 December 2022 under the 2021 amendment. The 2026 amendment changed who enforces it locally, naming urban local bodies, local authorities, gram panchayats and district panchayats, but not the thickness limit.

Will the 2026 amendment increase demand for paper carry bags?

Possibly, though not overnight. Plastic carry bags now carry a 10% recycled-content target rising to 20% in 2027-28, and the amendment spells out who enforces the carry bag ban in rural and peri-urban areas. Both favour paper at the margin. How fast demand moves depends on whether local bodies actually inspect, which the rules cannot guarantee.

Last reviewed: October 2026

Most of what the 2026 amendment asks of a paper bag converter is evidence: proof that a bag has no plastic layer, or exact layer data where it does. That is easier to provide when the base paper arrives with its own batch test data and a clear food-contact position. Our food-grade kraft and poster grades for carry bags are listed in the food wrap and carry range, where you can download the spec-sheet PDF for each grade and check GSM, burst and Cobb against your line. They are uncoated paper grades, so if your customer specifically needs a plastic-laminated barrier bag they are not the right fit, and we would rather say so up front. For a question about construction declarations or a sample trial on your machine, talk to our technical team.

Sources

• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 237(E), Gazette of India Extraordinary, 31 March 2026 (copy hosted by the Indian Chemical Council)
• Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, circular copy of the Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2026
• Central Pollution Control Board, Centralized EPR Portal for Plastic Packaging

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