{"id":43414,"date":"2025-05-15T21:03:55","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T15:33:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=43414"},"modified":"2025-07-07T16:10:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T10:40:22","slug":"plastic-waste-in-himalayas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/15-05-2025\/plastic-waste-in-himalayas","title":{"rendered":"Plastic Waste in Himalayas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to a report more than 84% of the plastic waste collected in Himalayan region is posing serious environmental and systemic challenges.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to data gathered from the <strong>Himalayan Cleanup (THC) 2024<\/strong>, conducted across nine Himalayan states, over <strong>1.2 lakh pieces<\/strong> of waste were audited\u2014<strong>88%<\/strong> of which were plastic.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Within plastic waste, <strong>84.2% was attributed to food and beverage packaging,<\/strong> and <strong>71% <\/strong>of this was non-recyclable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sikkim and Darjeeling (West Bengal)<\/strong> emerged as the top contributors in terms of volume, followed by Ladakh, Nagaland, and Uttarakhand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impact of plastic waste<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Impact on Tourism: <\/strong>The worst plastic accumulation was found around tourist destinations, rivers, and protected areas, indicating the role of unregulated tourism and poor infrastructure.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Climate and Biodiversity Linkages:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/18-06-2025\/kerala-high-court-bans-single-use-plastic-in-hilly-areas\"><strong>Plastic waste<\/strong><\/a> in the Himalayas contributes to soil and water contamination, affecting biodiversity and local food systems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Health Hazards: <\/strong>Accumulated plastic waste near human settlements leads to vector-borne diseases, water pollution, and respiratory problems due to open burning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges in Waste Governance in the Himalayas<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Lack of Localised Waste Infrastructure: <\/strong>Most mountain towns and villages lack basic waste collection, segregation, and treatment facilities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Plastic Ban Policies:<\/strong> Although several Himalayan states have banned certain plastic products, enforcement is weak, due to inconsistent monitoring, and a lack of viable alternatives for local communities and vendors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Low Awareness:<\/strong> There is insufficient awareness among producers about their responsibilities under <strong>Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also tourists often lack both education and sensitivity towards sustainable practices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dispersed Settlements:<\/strong> The rugged topography, scattered population, and seasonal weather conditions make it logistically challenging to establish and maintain effective waste management systems across the Himalayan belt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India\u2019s Efforts in Tackling Plastic Waste<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR):<\/strong> The Indian government has implemented EPR, making plastic manufacturers responsible for managing and disposing of the waste generated by their products.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Plastic Waste Management (Amendment) Rules, 2022:<\/strong>&nbsp; It prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of plastic carry bags having thickness less than <strong>120 microns.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Swachh Bharat Abhiyan:<\/strong> It is a national cleanliness campaign, which includes the collection and disposal of plastic waste.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Plastic Parks:<\/strong> India has set up Plastic Parks, which are specialized industrial zones for recycling and processing plastic waste.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Mountain-Sensitive Waste Policies:<\/strong> Waste management policies that consider geographic remoteness, traditional practices, and ecological sensitivity are essential.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Decentralised Waste Systems: <\/strong>Focus should be on community-based, low-impact waste solutions rooted in traditional knowledge and local governance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sustainable Tourism Practices: <\/strong>Establish mandatory waste audits and management protocols at tourist sites, especially around water bodies and pilgrimage circuits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/single-use-food-beverage-packaging-forms-84-of-himalayan-plastic-waste\/article69557044.ece\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>TH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">According to a report more than 84% of the plastic waste collected in Himalayan region is posing serious environmental and systemic challenges.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>About<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">According to data gathered from the Himalayan Cleanup (THC) 2024, conducted across nine Himalayan states, over 1.2 lakh pieces of waste were audited\u201488% of which were plastic.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Within plastic waste, 84.2% was attributed to food and beverage packaging, and 71% of this was non-recyclable.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Sikkim and Darjeeling (West Bengal) emerged as the top contributors in terms of volume, followed by Ladakh, Nagaland, and Uttarakhand.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/15-05-2025\/plastic-waste-in-himalayas\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43414"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47118,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43414\/revisions\/47118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}