Plastic Pollution In India

Plastic pollution in India
General
Plastic waste is one of the major environmental problems in India, especially in the urban areas. The population of India is 1.252 billion as of 2013. This increasing population has led to an increase in the generation of plastic waste. Use of polythene bags and plastic litter are the key sources of plastic waste in the country. Due to the lack of enough landfill sites in the country to dispose the waste generated from the households, the garbage bins on the roadside are spilling out. This gives rise to an unpleasant sight and bad odour.
People tend to use more plastics because they are less expensive and are convenient to use. Since they are cheap, they are easily thrown away and their existence in the environment

An approximation of around 300 tonnes of marine plastic debris enter the shores of Indian coasts every day. These wastes tend to originate from the use on land such as plastic bottles, packaging materials and polythene covers. More than 70% of the waste found in Indian rivers are plastics and stands in top 20 countries that dump maximum plastic in the oceans. India is a land of many holy rivers with many devotees and tourists visiting them. Rivers in India are not only just considered as water bodies, but also worshipped as God and Goddess and valued as sacred. One such river is Yamuna, the largest tributary river of the Ganges in North India. This river-the lifeline of Delhi, India’s capital, receives more than three billion litres of waste every day. Yamuna, which once had a clear blue water is now considered to be the most polluted river in India. Currently 70% of Delhi is drinking the treated water of river

These wastes can also leak their harmful chemicals into water. Aquatic animals often mistake them for food, eat and die.
On land
In most parts of India, animals are free to roam around the streets, nap on the roadside, search for food near markets and eat from the garbage dumps. Plastics thrown are very often mistaken for food by these animals, particularly cows and bulls and are eaten up leading to death. It was claimed that around 100 cattle die every day eating plastic bags in Uttar Pradesh, India. Around 35 kg of plastic was found in the stomach of one dead cow. Plastics not only choke the digestive system of the cow, but also enter the human body through animal and dairy products as plastic residues. Fig A cow searching for food in the market area of Mumbai
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Fig A cow eating a plastic bag discarded by Hindu devotees in the Ganges River, Allahabad, India