India’s war on plastics has faced challenges despite good intentions and a stack of regulations, but there are encouraging signs on the horizon suggesting that the battle is far from lost.
The fact is that the regulatory framework governing plastic waste, though comprehensive, needs improvements to address unclear definitions and exemptions that currently make enforcement difficult.
Yet this is certainly not the end of the road. The government is joining forces with multiple stakeholders to build a strong and viable pathway towards a plastic-free future, as part of its broader climate agenda.
This renewed resolve stems from a widespread realisation that India cannot afford to slip up. Under a business-as-usual scenario, India could produce 165 million tonnes of waste annually by 2030—enough to bury a city the size of Delhi under three metres of rubbish. Left unchecked, uncollected plastic waste could cost India over $133 billion, including approximately $68 billion from uncollected plastic packaging waste.
Teething Troubles
Already, India generates 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, impacting wildlife, polluting oceans and threatening food chains. According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), much of this waste ends up in landfills, posing serious environmental risks.
In water, plastics shed billions of toxic microplastics and contaminate agricultural soil through irrigation and wastewater sludge. When exposed to heat, they release greenhouse gases, accelerating climate change.
The good news is that these realities have not gone unnoticed but have instead prompted strong action from the government and many environmentally conscious businesses, contributing to a collective effort against waste.
In June 2022, India took an important step by placing curbs on single-use plastic bags, although early enforcement faced unexpected hurdles. “My customers disliked bringing bags to the market to collect the vegetables,” says Vishnu, a vegetable vendor in a South Delhi neighbourhood. “That hit my daily sales.”
Cut to 2025: regulations remain in place and while plastics have made a partial return, there is a silver lining. “Though everyone still uses plastic bags for packing vegetables, customers are much more conscious, and many do bring their own bags even when no one is watching,” says Vishnu.
Atul Vaidya, vice-chancellor, Laxminarayan Innovative Technological University, Nagpur and co-author of the India-Australia research study National Circular Economy Roadmap for Reducing Plastic Waste in India, notes that early efforts faltered mainly because alternatives were prohibitively expensive and hard to find, compounded by gaps in waste collection and disposal systems.
“Regulators are hamstrung by understaffing and stakeholder pressures, compounded by widespread public ignorance and resistance to change,” says Vaidya.
Since small and micro enterprises dominate plastic manufacturing in India, strict enforcement would have affected thousands of livelihoods. “The implementing authorities, therefore, looked the other way,” says Ashish Jain, director, National Pollution Control Association.
Miles to Go
Plastic manufacturing has contributed to non-biodegradable waste for over 150 years, but it is only in the past few decades that serious regulatory efforts began worldwide.
India’s Plastic Waste Management Rules, introduced in 2016, represented a landmark moment, mandating waste segregation, encouraging reuse and recycling and banning plastic bags below 50 microns. The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy later expanded these responsibilities to producers, importers and brand owners.
However, the EPR mechanism, reliant on self-reporting, has faced challenges, given India’s evolving monitoring systems. To strengthen accountability, the government amended the rules, setting progressive waste take-back targets, that is, a system for producers to collect and manage used products from consumers: 25% by 2021–22, 70% by 2022–23 and 100% by 2023–24. Producers were also encouraged to use 15–20% recycled content with a mandate to increase it over time.
“Since the cost of virgin plastic is lower than recycled plastic, manufacturers generally disregard the regulation,” says Vaidya, pointing to the need for penalties to encourage compliance. The success of EPR and other bans depends heavily on closing regulatory loopholes and strengthening the capacity of urban local bodies (ULBs), which play a central role in waste segregation, recycling and monitoring. With better resources and technical training, ULBs can drive real change.
Integration of the informal sector into the formal waste management system is another critical area of focus. “The financial viability of material recovery facilities depends on the collection of good quality dry waste. But this gets lost in the informal sector. So, there’s a need to train and integrate them,” says Suneel Pandey, director of circular economy and waste management at The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri).
Recognising the urgent need for airtight regulations, India is moving towards imposing stricter compliance costs and promoting innovation in alternatives to plastics. Stronger bans, clearer definitions and increased support for alternatives are set to accelerate this shift, making sustainable choices more accessible and affordable.
A key lesson from the journey so far is that meaningful change takes time. “Commonly used commodities need to be phased out gradually with proper awareness campaigns, availability of alternatives and stronger implementing agencies,” Vaidya points out.
While cheap plastics remain widely available, there is also a growing awareness and resolve to tackle the problem. Breaking the cycle of plastic dependency will require sustained commitment, but the path forward is clearer than ever.
