As someone who spends considerable time across India’s forests and tiger reserves, I find it impossible to ignore the slow but visible creep of plastic pollution in and around these fragile ecosystems. Snack wrappers in dry streambeds, PET bottles along forest trails, and plastic snagged on lantana bushes—these are jarring reminders of a crisis reaching even our most protected spaces. Plastic pollution is no longer confined to our cities. While cities have seen a rise in collection and recycling infrastructure,
As someone who spends considerable time across India’s forests and tiger reserves, I find it impossible to ignore the slow but visible creep of plastic pollution in and around these fragile ecosystems. Snack wrappers in dry streambeds, PET bottles along forest trails, and plastic snagged on lantana bushes—these are jarring reminders of a crisis reaching even our most protected spaces. Plastic pollution is no longer confined to our cities. While cities have seen a rise in collection and recycling infrastructure, forest peripheries—where ecological stakes are high—remain largely unaddressed in our plastic action agenda.
India’s forests, which cover over 21% of the country’s land and shelter much of its biodiversity, are quietly becoming victims of plastic pollution. The theme of World Environment Day 2025—Ending Global Plastic Pollution—is a timely reminder that our plastic action agenda cannot stop at city boundaries. Forest landscapes and surrounding villages face unmanaged waste from tourism and local use. Much of this leakage occurs in peripheries and villages surrounding forests, often overlooked by standard waste systems.
The ecological impact of plastic in forests and protected nature reserves is gaining global attention. UNEP notes microplastics harm soil biodiversity, weaken water retention, and endanger wildlife. In India’s biodiverse forests, their long-term impact remains poorly studied—an invisible crisis in the making. In forest-fringe tourism zones across India, the threat is becoming increasingly visible. In Uttarakhand, studies by Waste Warriors revealed that areas around Corbett and Rajaji generate 2–5 kg of plastic waste per day per 100 visitors, much of it leaking into adjacent forests due to weak waste management systems. A 2021 ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) expert committee acknowledged plastic pollution as a critical risk in ecotourism hotspots, while a 2022 study by Aaranyak and WWF-India found plastic fragments in the scat of wild elephants and deer near Kaziranga and Manas—an alarming sign that microplastics are infiltrating terrestrial food chains in some of India’s most fragile ecosystems.
While India’s plastic policies—including the ban on single-use items and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)—are steps in the right direction, their implementation remains largely urban-centric. Forest villages and tourism zones remain out of reach of organised waste systems, with forest working plans rarely recognising plastic as a conservation concern and waste accumulating—sometimes burned, sometimes buried, but often left to scatter and degrade the landscape over time.
There are, however, local initiatives that show what can work. In Uttarakhand, Waste Warriors and Corbett Reserve run decentralised waste systems with clean-ups and tourist education. Sikkim’s bottled water bans spurred refill stations, reducing reliance on disposable plastic. Yet, such efforts need stronger policy and funding support to scale nationwide, despite active collaboration among forest departments, NGOs, and communities.
Tourism, while vital for local livelihoods and economy, adds significantly to plastic waste in forests—bottles, snack packets, and single-use items often litter fragile ecosystems. To counter this, visitor responsibility must be central. Bhutan, for instance, bans plastic in sacred sites, using checkpoint screenings and cultural messaging. India could adopt similar measures, like a refundable waste deposit or plastic offset fee, encouraging tourists to carry back waste or join clean-up efforts.
Iceland’s Vatnajökull National Park has successfully adopted such voluntary offsets to fund conservation and waste recovery efforts. Norway offers another innovative model through its Trash Tracker app, which allows hikers to report and remove waste; top contributors are recognised by the tourism board and rewarded with local experience vouchers—turning responsible tourism into a celebrated norm.
The private sector can play a pivotal role in closing the plastic waste loop in forest landscapes—moving beyond compliance to co-create scalable, community-rooted solutions. While EPR offers a policy framework, implementation remains patchy in forest peripheries due to logistical and governance gaps. CSR-backed partnerships can help bridge this divide, especially by anchoring decentralised waste systems within local economies. In Karnataka, for instance, women’s self-help groups collect and shred plastic to produce mats and construction material, transforming waste into income. With investment in infrastructure, skilling, and market linkages, such livelihood-linked circular models can be replicated across India’s forest regions. Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) drones and mobile reporting tools can track plastic hotspots and guide enforcement strategies effectively.
A particularly impactful approach would be to engage local youth as forest waste champions. These young people—already familiar with the area and often involved in tourism in some capacity—can be trained and incentivised to report waste hotspots, support clean-up drives, and raise awareness among visitors and their communities. With modest financial support and official recognition, this network of youth champions could become a sustainable, locally anchored solution to a growing challenge.
India now stands at a crossroads, where its forest conservation vision must expand to include waste prevention and circular solutions. Plastic pollution in and around forests is not just an environmental issue; it tests how well we can integrate ecological protection with sustainable livelihoods, innovation, and behavioural change. The strength of our response will determine whether our forests remain spaces of resilience and biodiversity or become quiet victims of neglect.
This article is authored by Suryaprabha Sadasivan, senior vice president, Chase India.
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