Diagnosis of the Trash Crisis in the Himalayas
SHIMLA/DEHRADUN/LEH/ITANAGAR:
OVER 84% of plastic waste in the Himalayas is now coming from food and beverage packaging, exposing the fast-growing garbage crisis choking fragile mountain ecosystems.
The findings have emerged in The Himalayan Cleanup 2025 report accessed by HimbuMail. The report was prepared under the campaign led by Zero Waste Himalaya and the integrated Mountain Initiative.
The report says 1,21,739 waste items were audited during cleanup drives across the Indian Himalayan region. Nearly 90 per cent of the waste collected was plastic. Most of it was non-recyclable multilayered packaging.
Food wrappers, chips packets, plastic bottles, sachets and disposable packaging dominated the mountain waste stream.
The report says 84 per cent of the plastic waste was linked to food and beverage packaging alone.
The cleanup data has once again put big brands under scrutiny for flooding mountain states with low-value plastic packaging.
The report says nearly 71 to 77 per cent of the plastic collected had no recycling value in Himalayan terrain where waste transport itself is costly and difficult.
Tourist hotspots, highways, riversides and trekking routes emerged among the worst polluted sites.
The report warns that rising tourism, changing consumption habits and poor waste systems are rapidly turning Himalayan regions into dumping grounds.
The findings are alarming for hill states like Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand already battling climate disasters, flash floods and shrinking natural resilience.
Environmental groups have demanded stricter implementation of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and reduction in single-use plastic packaging.
The report also cautions against burning and incinerating plastic waste in mountain regions.
It says fragile Himalayan ecology cannot absorb increasing toxic pollution and calls for decentralised waste systems suited to mountain conditions.
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