Big Brands Named, Shamed in Himalayan Plastic Scandal
Shimla/Dehradun/Itanagar, Aug 9 – PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Kaisha Industries, Natural Water Industries, Parle, Vinayaka Industries, Hornbill Industries, ITC, CG Foods, and Perfetti Van Melle have been named the Top 10 Polluters of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) in 2025, in what activists are calling a wake-up call for corporate responsibility.
The damning list came out during The Himalayan Cleanup Speaks: Insights to Action webinar on Zero Waste Himalaya Day, where findings from The Himalayan Cleanup (THC) 2025 exposed the scale of the plastic menace in the fragile mountain ecosystem.
Conducted across 8 Himalayan states, the cleanup saw 12,500 volunteers comb through 148 sites, collecting and auditing a staggering 2,17,854 pieces of plastic waste.
Of the total waste, 93% was plastic, and nearly half (47%) was non-recyclable, shattering the myth that recycling alone can solve the problem.
Food packaging accounted for 93% of all plastic waste, with energy drink bottles—especially Sting—turning up in alarming numbers among student consumption, despite no warnings for children, pregnant women, or lactating mothers.
The organisers—Zero Waste Himalaya and Integrated Mountain Initiative—have been calling out polluters since 2018, demanding mountain-sensitive Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies.
“Policies must stop being blind to the Himalayan context. This is not just about cleaning up—it’s about stopping the flow of plastic at the source,” said Priya Shrestha of Zero Waste Himalaya.
Activists warned that the Himalayan waste crisis is intertwined with junk food-related health issues, climate change, and biodiversity loss.
They urged global and local brands to phase out single-use plastic, redesign packaging, and cut production—especially as global treaty negotiations to end plastic pollution are underway.
The THC report also flagged a worrying rise in local bottled water and food brands among the top 20 polluters, calling for targeted local action.
“The broom-bin-landfill-burn approach is killing our mountains,” said IMI President Ramesh Negi, stressing that development in the Himalaya must be “non-extractive and non-polluting.”
From Arunachal to Ladakh, Meghalaya to Manipur, local waste warriors pledged to take the fight further. The message was clear: the Himalayas cannot be treated as a corporate dumping ground any longer.
#TrashTheBrands #PlasticFreeHimalaya #JunkTheJunk #EPRNow
