Port of Oakland shipping container of plastics bound for India.

The Indian government says it will ban scrap plastic imports, a move that threatens to further disrupt the U.S. recycling industry by closing a growing market.

India’s environment ministry issued a release March 6, laying out a handful of changes to the country’s hazardous waste rules, some of which cover scrap plastic movement.

“Solid plastic waste has been prohibited from import into the country,” the release stated, specifying that the ban closes exemptions to existing import restrictions. The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) shared the information in an alert to members.

India banned scrap plastic imports in 2016, but later that year the country opened up certain exceptions, allowing companies in designated economic development areas to legally import plastic. The new rule appears to reverse those exceptions, specifying that the order bans imports “including in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and by Export Oriented Units (EOU).”

The release doesn’t note a date of implementation, but ISRI indicated the policy took effect March 1.

India’s release also doesn’t get into detail on resins that will […]