Dr Brajesh Dubey recently took a six-hour train ride from Bhubaneswar to Kharagpur, passing through dozens of quasi-urban Indian towns on his journey. Along the way, he observed heaps of litter, ranging from single-use plastics to multi-layer packaging and potato chip packets.
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“On my journey, I couldn’t find a stretch of more than two minutes where plastic was absent on the tracks. All sorts of plastics are visible,” said Dubey, a veteran researcher on plastic pollution at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur.
Dubey’s anecdote illustrates the sheer scale of India’s plastic crisis. As the world’s most populous nation and one experiencing rapi economic development, India is facing ever-increasing rates of consumption that exacerbate the plastic waste problem.
In India, plastics are cheap, omnipresent, and almost unavoidable. Whether it’s the packaging of vegetables, food transportation, or advancements in technology, no sector is untouched by plastic.
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We know India has a plastic problem, and our plans haven’t worked well, except in a few isolated cases.
Dr Brajesh Dubey, researcher, Indian Institute of Technology
Against this backdrop, a global study by researchers from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom revealed that India emits 9.3 million metric tonnes of plastic waste annually – nearly one-fifth of global plastic emissions.
This figure surpasses the combined emissions of the next four highest plastic polluting nations – Indonesia, Nigeria, China, and Russia – and also exceeds previous estimates. Older studies have named China and the Philippines as the world’s biggest plastic polluters.
Ed Cook, one of the study’s researchers, explained that the official statistics in India cover only part of the municipal solid waste generated in cities and do not account for waste from rural areas and smaller conurbations. In all likelihood, even the staggering numbers are still an underestimate in his view.
“The [plastic] collection rate is more elusive,” said Cook. “While some sources suggest it might be as high as 95 per cent, our modelling indicates that it’s closer to 81 per cent, a more realistic reflection of the situation, particularly in rural India.”
The study focused exclusively on unmanaged waste, consciously excluding the production and global trade of plastics, which attracted some criticism.
Responding to those criticisms, Cook clarified: “Our model is not compatible with including this [production] and we didn’t model it. We modelled the downstream processes. Other models have looked at upstream processes and have not found them to be a significant source of macroplastic emissions. This was part of our rationale for not including it. We didn’t include production and we were explicit about not doing so.”
Dr Dubey supported the study’s findings, published in the scientific journal Nature, adding that such research sheds new light on the extent of the plastic crisis.
“The study is sound and will force us to reassess our approach to the issue,” he said. “Most of our water bodies contain traces of plastic; our salts, fish, and even cow dung are contaminated with microplastics. In India, the problem primarily lies in plastic waste management.”
Production versus plastic waste management
While efforts have been made by policymakers – from setting up plastic-free zones in eco-sensitive areas to imposing a nationwide ban on single-use plastics – the impact has been limited. Regulatory bodies have attempted to roll out piecemeal policies, including mandatory registration for plastic manufacturers, but key problem areas remain unaddressed.
“We know India has a plastic problem, and our plans haven’t worked well, except in a few isolated cases,” Dubey said.
He acknowledged that there is no viable alternative to plastic in many instances, which continues to fuel its use.
Other experts echo that sentiment, pointing out that the government’s efforts to bolster the petrochemicals industry result in the rampant production of non-essential plastics.
Swathi Seshadri, director of research and team lead for oil and gas at Centre for Financial Accountability, a New Delhi-based organisation working to strengthen financial accountability in India, said that 60 per cent of the plastics consumed in India go into packaging, which is largely single-use.
Seshadri criticised the government’s “contradictory” policies, remarking that while promoting polymer production, the government simultaneously imposes ineffective single-use plastic bans.
She pointed to statements made by the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas about contributing 10 per cent of incremental global demand for petrochemicals, calling the approach “deceptive.”
She also highlighted India’s position on the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations. India opposes including primary plastic polymers in the treaty, instead is lobbying to push the neogtiations downstream, to focus on waste management.
Seshadri argued: “The only real way to tackle plastic pollution is by reducing the production and consumption of polymers, the raw materials for plastics. As long as polymers are produced, plastic will continue to flood into the environment.”
India is home to 21 petrochemical plants with a production capacity of about 29 million metric tonnes. The government has plans to further expand oil refineries, all of which are geared towards increasing petrochemical output.
The latest 2024–25 federal budget reflects a 60 per cent increase in spending on petrochemicals.
Reliance India Limited, owned by Mukesh Ambani – an influential business figure close to prime minister Narendra Modi – controls nearly 45 per cent of the country’s refining capacity.
“This mindless expansion of polymer production needs to absolutely stop,” said Seshadri.
Siddharth Ghanshyam Singh, programme manager at nonprofit research institute Centre for Science and Environment, also stressed the need for India’s government to address the production elephant-in-the-room if it wishes to effectively combat plastic pollution.
He observed that the effects of plastic pollution are visible throughout India, from production hubs to locations where plastic waste is dumped or incinerated.
“There are several National Green Tribunal (NGT) cases where petrochemical companies have been found to flout environmental regulations, harming both the environment and public health,” said Singh, adding that most of these companies have failed to comply with NGT directives.
