India is the world’s largest plastic polluter

With the plastic waste released into the environment every year by India, 604 Taj Mahals could be filled: it is the largest plastic polluter in the world

India currently is the biggest plastic polluter in the world, accounting for nearly a fifth of global plastic emissions. According to a study published in the scientific journal Nature by researchers from the University of Leeds, India emits around 9.3 million metric tons of plastic every year. This shocking figure is set against a background of 50.2 million metric tons of plastic released into the environment annually worldwide. To put this number into perspective, it would be enough plastic to fill 604 Taj Mahals.

Landfills around New Delhi-in Ghazipur, Bhalswa, and Okhla-have become the face of failure when it comes to waste management. Towering mounds of trash, such as the one in Ghazipur, rise 197 feet high, infested with birds and insects, evidence of a crisis that reaches well beyond the confines of India’s capital.

The insufficiency of proper infrastructure for the collection and disposal of waste is one of the major reasons for this critical situation. In addition, environmental policies are not very clear and difficult to implement; therefore inappropriate waste management is becoming more normal.

China has made progress in reducing plastic emissions

By comparison, over the past fifteen years, China has invested in waste collection and treatment systems that have reduced plastic emissions by an order of magnitude. Indeed, these changes have been able to better the overall environmental situation facing that country, while India is still in a stage of development where such resources are limited.

Various economic disparities between the two countries make it hard for India to follow the Chinese model. For instance, the amount of municipal solid waste burned by India is equal to the combined total from the four countries with the highest rates of waste combustion: Nigeria with 3.5 million tons, Indonesia with 3.4 million tons, China with 2.8 million tons, and Russia with 1.7 million tons.

India’s plastic pollution control

While the problem has been assuaged by the government with a ban on 19 categories of single-use plastics since 2022, the implementation has been varied with partial success in terms of actually reducing pollution. This complex situation could only reaffirm the dire need for better strategies against the waste crisis and improved handling of solid waste management in India for a vital link toward a pollution-free world.

Source: Nature