Single-use food, beverage packaging 84% of Himalayan plastic waste: report

Over 84% of plastic waste in the Himalayas is from single-use food packaging, prompting calls for systemic change.

Single-use food and beverage packaging forms more than 84% of the plastic waste in the eco-sensitive Himalayan region, an anti-waste collective of NGOs has found.

According to the Zero Waste Himalaya Alliance, about 70% of the plastics collected from across the Himalayan belt from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh are non-recyclable and have no market value.

The gravity of the environmental reality came to light at the Zero Waste Himalaya Network Meet held in Himachal Pradesh’s Bir in April, where the constituents of the alliance lamented the failure of the current policies in addressing the unique challenges of mountain ecosystems.

The alliance was initiated by the Zero Waste Himalaya, an organisation based in Sikkim’s Gangtok, and the Integrated Mountain Initiative based in Uttarakhand’s Dehradun.

The two organisations have been spearheading The Himalayan Cleanup (THC), one of the biggest movements against plastic pollution in the Indian Himalayan region, since 2018. The Bir convergence of anti-plastic groups was held a month ahead of their annual plastic waste collection from May 26-30.

The meeting was supported by the GAIA-Asia Pacific and Break Free From Plastic, two global networks “committed to ending plastic pollution by championing real solutions”.

A statement issued by the alliance on Thursday (May 8, 2025) said: “Over the past six years, the data has indicated that the Himalayan waste crisis is fundamentally a production and systems issue rather than a post-consumer waste management flaw. While the role of individual behavioural change was acknowledged and emphasised, the need for systemic, policy-level interventions and a paradigm shift away from centralised, extractive waste systems was seen as critical.”