A POWERFUL JUDICIAL REMEDY FOR WASTE MANAGEMENT

India is the biggest plastic polluter in the world, according to a new study published in Nature, releasing 9.3 million tonnes (Mt) annually.

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This is equivalent to around a fifth of global plastic emission. Plastic emissions, according to this study, are defined as material (which includes both debris and open plastic burning) that has moved from managed or mismanaged systems (in which waste is subject to a form of control, however basic contained state) to the unmanaged system (the environment; uncontained state) with no control.

Evidence of an underestimation

The report goes on to say that India reports that its dumpsites (uncontrolled land disposal) outnumber sanitary landfills by 10:1 and, despite the claim that there is a national collection coverage of 95%, there is evidence that official statistics do not include rural areas, open burning of uncollected waste or waste recycled by the informal sector. This means that India's official plastic waste generation rate (approximately 0.12 kilograms per capita per day (kg cap-1 day-1) is probably underestimated and waste collection overestimated. According to this study, the plastic waste generation rate for India of 0.54 kg cap-1 day-1.

The alarming situation vis-à-vis plastic waste in the Indian Himalayan Region was highlighted in an Opinion page article in this daily, "Mountains of plastic are choking the Himalayan States" (March 4, 2024). A salient point was the lack of data regarding the quantum and the quality of waste and the capacity to deal with plastic waste in this region. Only 16% land reclaimed under legacy waste management project of Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0

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