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Effective plastic waste management hinges on strong municipal governance—global and Indian cities show both inspiring models and critical gaps.
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Urban plastic pollution is one of the most visible and alarming symptoms of worldwide environmental degradation. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that the world produces over 430 million tonnes of plastic annually, two-thirds of which are perishable products that soon turn into waste. A significant proportion of this waste enters the environment due to inefficient waste management systems, especially in developing countries. As frontline actors in solid waste management, municipal governments play a critical role in mitigating plastic pollution.
Global estimates suggest that only 10 percent of the seven billion tonnes of plastic waste generated worldwide gets recycled, causing annual estimated losses of up to US$ 120 billion—just considering the value of plastic packaging waste during sorting and processing. Moreover, plastics constitute 12 percent of cities' 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) each year. While up to 80 percent of waste is collected and managed scientifically in high-income countries, only 39 percent is collected. In low-income countries, particularly in the Global South, this figure is a mere 4 percent. Estimates of plastic recycling and reuse are even more worrisome—only 9 percent of plastics are recycled, while 19 percent are incinerated, 50 percent end up in controlled municipal landfills, and 22 percent are dumped, burned, or left to pollute terrestrial and aquatic environments.
Cities such as San Francisco in the United States (US), Seoul in South Korea, and Curitiba in Brazil, earmarked investments for source segregation, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), community awareness campaigns, and efficient recycling mechanisms, have become global examples of effective urban plastic waste management. Furthermore, these cities have directed enhanced focus on data-driven decision-making and cultivated healthy public-private partnerships (PPPs), integrating environmental planning with public health in their municipal-level waste governance and management policies.
Cities such as San Francisco in the United States (US), Seoul in South Korea, and Curitiba in Brazil, earmarked investments for source segregation, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), community awareness campaigns, and efficient recycling mechanisms, have become global examples of effective urban plastic waste management.
For instance, San Francisco has established a benchmark for other North American cities by attaining a high rate of municipal waste recycling and composting, thereby aiding residents, businesses, and the city government to conserve resources more judiciously, and promote public health and safety. Investing in capacity-building and skills enhancement of the municipal staff and collaborating with nonprofit community organisations through grants disbursals, the city has pledged to reduce solid waste generation by 15 percent and achieve an overall 50 percent reduction in waste disposal to landfills and incineration plants by 2030.
This multistakeholder participatory approach has helped the city achieve 80 percent waste recycling and decrease plastic bag usage by 100 million annually. This has significantly reduced the load on landfills, minimised greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and strengthened San Francisco’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
Curitiba, Brazil, has emerged as a global leader in plastic recycling through innovative policies and community engagement. Its 1989 ‘Garbage That Is Not Garbage’ programme encouraged residents to separate organic and inorganic waste, nurturing a city-wide recycling culture. The ‘Green Exchange’ programme lent further impetus to this initiative in the early 1990s, encouraging people in favelas, the city’s underserved areas, to trade recyclable materials for food and bus tokens and promote environmental responsibility and social welfare.
These efforts have yielded impressive results. As of January 2025, Curitiba recycles approximately 70 percent of its waste, surpassing Brazil's national average of around 4 percent. These efforts have also led to the generation of 2,000 waste management jobs, with 10,000 individuals engaged as paid waste collectors.
Furthermore, Curitiba has also leveraged technology to streamline its waste management approach further. Citizens are incentivised to segregate and deposit waste in the ‘Retorna Machines’—reverse vending machines that accept various recyclable materials, including steel, glass, and plastic scrap—in exchange for digital credits redeemable for utilities and transportation. On the education front, alongside integrating environmental topics into school curricula since 1989, the city’s Free University for the Environment offers free courses on ecological stewardship.
Curitiba’s comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach—combining policy, technology, education, and the community—has advanced plastic recycling and enhanced social equity and environmental health.
In contrast, cities with weak municipal governance rely on informal and unsafe waste disposal, open dumping, and rampant plastic littering.
India generates around 3.4 million tonnes (MT) of plastic waste but recycles only about 10.2 MT. The country’s plastic consumption rose at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.7 percent from 14 MT in 2016-17 to over 20 MT in 2019-20.
Despite several governance initiatives and nationwide campaigns to reduce open defecation and make India’s cities cleaner, the problem of plastic waste remains largely unaddressed. While the Constitution (74th Amendment) Act, 1992 mandated municipalities to manage solid waste, Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) continue to face multiple challenges— including inadequate infrastructure, lack of source segregation of waste, poor plastic ban enforcement, limited financial autonomy, and unregulated informal sector participation for effective plastic waste management.
The idea of ‘clean’ cities and urban habitats gained considerable momentum following the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in 2014. SBM aimed to make India open defecation-free (ODF) and achieve 100 percent scientific municipal solid waste management across 4,041 statutory towns. In 2021, SBM 2.0 expanded its scope to make cities ‘garbage-free’ by promoting waste segregation, composting, and material recovery facilities (MRFs).
Multiple central and state government-led initiatives and campaigns, such as the annual ‘Swachh Sarvekshan’ —national ranking for clean cities—have fostered innovative practices for solid waste management in several Indian cities.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change notified the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, mandating that municipalities ensure door-to-door waste collection, source segregation, scientific processing, and disposal. In the same year, it also notified the Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Rules, 2016 (amended in 2021 and 2022), to establish targeted fundamental practices to tackle the plastic menace. It also fixed the responsibility of producers, importers, and brand owners (PIBOs) under EPR.
Several Indian states have also enacted stringent bans on single-use plastics, seeking inspiration from the overwhelming response received for the SBM across all stakeholders. For example, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have issued comprehensive statewide bans and set up enforcement task forces.
Multiple central and state government-led initiatives and campaigns, such as the annual ‘Swachh Sarvekshan’ —national ranking for clean cities—have fostered innovative practices for solid waste management in several Indian cities.
For example, Indore has consistently outperformed its state and national counterparts by securing the first place in the Swachh Sarvekshan rankings. As of 2025, the city boasts a 100 percent door-to-door waste collection, a six-step waste segregation process (including for plastic waste), robust city-wide composting and recycling centres, and dedicated plastic recovery centres in partnership with recyclers.
Furthermore, Surat has leveraged technology adoption, including geo-tagging and ultrasonic sensor monitoring of all municipal garbage bins, Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-tagged garbage collection vehicles, and digital dashboards to monitor real-time waste collection and plastic segregation. The ultrasonic monitors send alerts to the control room when these 1.5-tonne-capacity bins reach 70 percent capacity, optimising waste collection schedules and routes.
Chhattisgarh’s Ambikapur has exclusive cafes where ragpickers exchange plastic waste for food. This innovative initiative serves the dual purpose of managing plastic waste with community involvement and providing meals to the city’s homeless population. The municipal corporation has also trained 600 women from self-help groups (SHGs) for door-to-door waste collection. Ambikapur was ranked the ‘cleanest city’ in the Swachh Sarvekshan ranking for eight consecutive years from 2015 to 2022.
On the other hand, Pune in Maharashtra has leveraged the power of the country’s successful cooperative movement for effective waste management. Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) collaboration with SWaCH (Solid Waste Collection and Handling) —a waste pickers’ cooperative—has facilitated efficient plastic waste collection and segregation, ensuring environmental and social sustainability.
Despite being a real threat to cities, plastic pollution presents an opportunity to transform urban landscapes. Municipalities around the globe, especially the fast-urbanising economies in the Global South, must renew their pledge to build resilient, inclusive, and technology-enabled waste management systems.
Despite these successes, the broader picture reveals endemic systemic challenges in solid waste management in Indian cities. Most municipalities lack trained personnel, planning skills, and enforcement capability, severely constraining efficient solid waste management, which requires a robust value chain from 100 percent source segregation, collection, processing and recycling. Consequently, over two-thirds of plastic waste ends up in incinerators, landfills, or as litter. ULBs are severely cash-starved, relying heavily on central or state funding without captive revenue sources for infrastructure investment. Despite exemplary work in a few cities, India’s estimated 1.5 million informal waste workers have no legal recognition, job or social security. Archaic waste governance and disposal result in a data vacuum, constraining evidence-based policymaking and execution.
Capacity Building and Training: Conduct periodic training programmes in waste management planning, data management, technology advancements, and regulatory enforcement for solid waste management departments in ULBs.
Decentralised Infrastructure: Promote ward-level segregation, composting, and MRFs for localised plastic waste handling.
Inclusive Governance: Recognise and integrate informal waste workers through cooperatives and PPPs.
Monitoring Mechanisms: Establish digital waste dashboards, grievance redressal systems, and compliance tracking tools.
Behavioural Change: Municipalities must run sustained awareness programmes for households, schools, and businesses to ensure active citizen participation. Segregation at source is not possible without active public involvement.
Finance: With the abolition of Octroi—a primary revenue generator for ULBs and user fees and property tax failing to make up for the shortfall—cities should consider a separate levy for solid waste management. This will cover the collection, transportation, processing, and disposal costs.
Despite being a real threat to cities, plastic pollution presents an opportunity to transform urban landscapes. Municipalities around the globe, especially the fast-urbanising economies in the Global South, must renew their pledge to build resilient, inclusive, and technology-enabled waste management systems. Combatting plastic pollution requires much more than laws, regulations, and technologies. It requires strong municipal institutions that engage communities, foster innovation, and lead circular economy principles at the grassroots.
Dhaval Desai is a Senior Fellow and Vice President at the Observer Research Foundation
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Dhaval is Senior Fellow and Vice President at Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai. His spectrum of work covers diverse topics ranging from urban renewal to international ...
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