Major firms top polluters of Indian Himalayan region
Source: Chronicle News Service

Senapati, August 10 2025: PepsiCo, Coco-Cola, Kaisha Industries, Natural Water Industries, Parle, Vinayaka Industries, Hornbill Industries, ITC, CG Foods and Perfetti Van Melle were revealed as the top 10 polluters of the Indian Himalayan Region for 2025 at the webinar The Himalayan Clean-up Speaks: Insights to Action' held on August 8 as part of the 2025 -Zero Waste Himalaya Day.

The top polluters were identified through the Himalayan Clean-up audits conducted across eight mountain states in which 12,500 volunteers cleaned 148 sites and audited 2,17,854 plastic waste collected.

The Himalayan Clean-up 2025 has put the spotlight on the Himalayan waste crisis and a call to action against plastic pollution.

The initiative becomes more pertinent at the time of the global treaty negotiations to end plastic pollution.

It highlighted the need to have a vulnerable areas approach to the plastic waste crisis while adopting a complete life cycle perspective with producers taking responsibility as well as intersecting it with food and nutrition security, climate and biodiversity crisis.

Zero Waste Himalaya and Integrated Mountain Initiative have been anchoring the Himalayan Clean-up since 2018 with a waste and brand audit to name the companies that pollute the Himalaya, and call them out to take responsibility for their plastic waste.

The call is also for the extended producer responsibility rule implementation with targeted focus for the Himalaya that recognises the importance and fragility of the landscape.

The webinar's context setting highlighted that existing policies and practices are not sensitive and sufficient to respond to the Himalayan waste crisis, and that there was a need to acknowledge the socio-ecological importance, fragility and challenges of the Himalaya.

The need to shift the solution narrative beyond the broom, bin, landfill, burn and roll it downhill, and towards systemic solutions was also stressed.

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