We Must Treat Plastic as a Resource—Not Waste”: Prashant Singh on Tackling India’s Plastic Crisis

Prashant Singh is the Co-Founder and CEO of Blue Planet, a company building sustainable, integrated waste management ecosystems across Asia. In this conversation with Himanshu Ojha, he shares insights on the scale of India’s plastic pollution problem, why policy alone won’t cut it, and how Blue Planet is building circular solutions from legacy waste to community engagement. Edited excerpts from the interview

How do you assess the current environmental challenges posed by plastic waste, especially in emerging economies like India?

In emerging economies like India, plastic waste is going to remain a significant challenge, largely due to rapid urbanisation and the expansion of the middle class. For instance, India’s middle-class population is expected to double—from over 400 million to 800 million—over the next 25 years. That will fundamentally alter consumption patterns, and plastic will continue to be a central part of daily life.

So the use of plastic will rise—and with it, the scale of the waste problem. The magnitude of the challenge is set to grow alongside this adoption, and unless we act decisively, we’re looking at an increasingly unsustainable future.

How do you see evolving government regulations, such as the ban on single-use plastic bags, impacting the plastic manufacturing and packaging industry?

Over the last decade, we’ve seen some progress in terms of regulatory frameworks. The single-use plastic ban is a good example. But the real challenge is that we haven’t invested enough in developing viable alternatives. Unless we apply the same rigour to building substitutes, the impact of such bans will remain limited.

That said, there’s been a positive shift. The plastic manufacturing and packaging industries—and FMCG companies too—are proactively looking for alternatives. But government support for these efforts is still inadequate. So while the ban is a step in the right direction, it won’t be effective unless we bridge the gap with practical, affordable alternatives.

How is your company adapting its operations and product lines to address the plastic pollution crisis?

We approach the plastic waste issue through three pillars. First, we treat plastic as a resource across the entire value chain. For example, with legacy waste, we’re one of the world’s largest processors. We recover low-value plastic and refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from landfills and repurpose them as fossil fuel substitutes in cement plants—a sector known to be hard to decarbonise. Second, we process freshly collected plastic waste to create upcycled products like plastic pellets, bricks, and other usable materials.

The third pillar is community engagement, especially among young people. We run awareness programmes on source segregation, reducing plastic consumption, and promoting responsible use. The goal is to spark long-term behavioural change and get communities involved in the circular economy. These three focus areas—resource recovery, upcycling, and community participation—together build a circular economy framework that helps tackle plastic pollution holistically.

Can you speak to the economic or technical challenges of scaling up recycling infrastructure in India? And how valuable is plastic recycling to the industry or the country?

Plastic recycling and upcycling hold immense potential—economically and environmentally—for a country like India. But we need to change the mindset and start treating plastic as a resource. Only then can we truly unlock its value.

For instance, with India aiming for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) targets, plastic waste can play a role. Technologies like pyrolysis are being explored at scale to convert plastic into fuel or other useful outputs. That said, there are real challenges. One is the availability of clean, consistent feedstock. Another is access to technologies that can process plastic efficiently. Many advanced recycling technologies developed in Europe or the UK are too expensive and often not suited to local conditions in countries like India.

They work well in those geographies, but their economic feasibility here is limited. That’s the core dilemma—scaling requires technology that’s both efficient and economically viable in the Indian context. Until that happens, large-scale adoption will be tough.

What are your long-term environmental goals when it comes to plastics?

Our long-term goal is to make zero-to-landfill a reality for plastics. We’re not saying plastics should disappear—they play a vital role in modern life. But we want to ensure that none of it ends up in landfills.

That means investing in scalable technologies that can divert plastic waste effectively. It also means dealing with what’s already in landfills. Whether through recycling, upcycling, or energy recovery, we’re committed to putting legacy plastic to productive use.

If we succeed in both—diverting new waste and repurposing old—our goal over the next five years is to prevent more than 40 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions. Plastic waste management will play a major role in that.