Walk through any Indian city and the same offenders stand out: a cigarette butt pressed into the pavement, a shiny sachet drifting through a drain. Small in size and designed to be disposable, they nevertheless account for thousands of tonnes of either toxic or non-recyclable waste every year. A cigarette may last a few minutes, a sachet barely longer-- but their imprint on the environment endures for decades.
The challenge is not one of awareness. India understands the scale of plastic pollution. The problem is that we continue to see it as inevitable, something to be cleaned up after the fact, usually by overburdened municipalities or the waste pickers.
Take cigarette butts: They are the world’s most littered item. Made of cellulose acetate, they degrade into harmful micro plastics that infiltrate soil and water. In India alone, around 113 billion cigarette sticks were produced in 2021–22, with over 100 billion butts ending up in the environment, adding nearly 22,600 tonnes of waste. Solutions, however, already exist. The EU’s single-use plastic directive mandates member states to adopt Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for tobacco products by 2025. San Francisco imposes a litter tax on every cigarette pack to fund clean-up, while the EU requires warning labels stating that filters contain plastic. South Korea runs an Advanced Disposal Fee system that holds producers accountable for hard-to-recycle items, including cigarette filters. Even in India, the Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals had in a study identified cigarette butts as a priority single-use plastic to be phased out, given their negligible utility and high environmental cost.
India needs to simply bring cigarette filters under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework, requiring tobacco companies to finance the collection and safe disposal of butts. Designated bins in smoking zones, serviced by authorised handlers and funded by industry, would transform an unmanaged pollutant into a managed waste stream. It is an immediate and feasible step. Further, direct incentives could also be provided for recyclers by creating a mechanism of generating more certificates per quantum of cigarette butts handled vis-a-vis other stream of waste.
Now consider sachets: India consumes more than 50 billion every year, tiny pouches of shampoo, detergent, tobacco, that cannot be recycled and is rarely collected. Together, they account for 12–15 per cent of urban litter. These products meet a genuine demand for affordability. The solution lies not in prohibition but in innovation. Compostable laminates, edible films, and refill station models are no longer futuristic-- they are technologies already being tested. If supported through subsidies for MSMEs, such as cost offsets for biodegradable packaging or recycling units, grants for startups to develop alternative materials and refill models, and modest collection incentives for self-help groups and the informal sector, sachets could shift from being a dead-end pollutant to a catalyst for green innovation and livelihoods. Further, while sachets remain in use until viable alternatives emerge, packaging for smaller quantities could be standardised in terms of resin type, shape, inks, and additives to facilitate collection and improve recyclability.
These approaches are not theoretical. The Montreal Protocol demonstrated how innovation funds can phase out harmful substances worldwide. India’s own EPR rules already oblige producers to manage plastic packaging waste. At the same time, regulation and technology alone will not suffice. Awareness and behavioral change is critical. Discarding a cigarette butt in public should be as socially unacceptable as spitting. Tobacco companies must include a disclosure regarding plastic content on the packets to inform consumers. A sachet-free lifestyle should become aspirational -- encouraged by communities, rewarded by brands, and supported by municipalities. India has successfully shifted public behaviour before - on seatbelt use, sanitation, and digital payments. Responsible disposal and refill habits can be the next frontier.
The goal is to transcend policies to cleaner streets. By tackling two of the hardest-to-manage waste streams, India can demonstrate that the path to ending plastic pollution can be successfully implemented on the ground with smarter responsibility, and shared accountability.