June 23, 2025

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DROWNING IN PLASTIC

At the sprawling 250-acre plastic bazaar at Tikri Kalan on the Delhi-Haryana border, towering mounds of white PP raffia bags stuffed with plastic scrap line the dusty, winding lanes. The plastic is segregated into at least 100 distinct varieties, ensuring each sack contains only one kind of plastic, since mixed plastic cannot be processed together. "Plastic waste from every district of India comes here," says Vijay Sharma, office secretary, PVC and Plastic Waste Dealers Association. Between 30 and 50 trucks, each of 10-15 tonne capacity, arrive daily, says Sharma. Other traders estimate the figure to be much higher--200-250 trucks. Which means only one thing: the presence of a massive informal market--much larger than the formal one--right on Tikri Kalan's periphery. And thereby hangs a whole tale. In a 2022 analysis of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data from 23 states and Union territories, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) concluded that only 12 per cent of plastic waste in India is recycled, 20 per cent of it is burned while a significant 70 per cent is unaccounted-for, likely ending up in landfills or dumpyards and along roadsides. No wonder India emerged as the world's largest plastic emitter in a September 2024 study published in science journal Nature, which based its conclusions on 2020 data gleaned from 50,702 municipalities worldwide. India contributes 9.3 million tonnes (Mt), or 20 per cent, to the 52.1 Mt of the annual global plastic waste emissions. This refers to the waste emitted into the environment that is not subject to any form of management or control. An estimated 5.8 Mt of plastic is openly burned in India, releasing poisonous gases; 3.5 Mt escapes as loose plastic in the environment that eventually enters the oceans. This is not counting the enormous quantum that gets collected and thrown in mismanaged sites, where it eventually decomposes and leaches deadly toxins into the soil. In an e-mail, the authors of the study told india today that the total plastic waste generated in India is 27.8 Mt, far, far higher than the 3.5 Mt the CPCB estimated for 2020 (see The India Stack). As the study says, official figures in India do not include rural areas, open burning of uncollected waste or waste recycled by the informal sectorHow did India get here? Plastic first came to India in the form of polystyrene circa 1957; it would take a few decades for other forms to be produced in India. The appeal of the material lies in its very name--derived from the Greek word `plastikos', meaning that which can be shaped or moulded. A synthetic material made from fossil fuels like petroleum or natural gas, plastic is constructed out of long chains of mol-

SMALL CARS, BIG LOSSES

THE SMALL CAR, ONCE A SYMBOL OF MIDDLE-CLASS MOBILITY and mass aspiration, is fast disappearing from Indian roads. Entrylevel cars priced below Rs 5 lakh, which sold around a million units in FY16, declined to just 25,402 units in FY25. The share of hatchbacks in total car sales has halved, from 47 per cent in 2020 to 24 per cent in 2024. Hatchback sales of India's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, fell from 771,478 units in 2020 to 730,766 units in 2024. The plunge has continued in 2025, with sales in the company's mini segment (Alto and S-Presso) registering a 31.5 per cent year-on-year drop in May, falling to 6,776 units from 9,902 units last year. Hatchback sales at the second-largest small carmaker, Hyundai Motor India, also fell--from 192,080 units in 2020 to 124,082 in 2024. This has alarmed automakers. "So somewhere the government has to understand that if they want to fuel the growth of the auto industry, they need to understand where the problem is and how to increase the size of the pie (small car sales)," Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing & sales), Maruti Suzuki, said at a media interaction on June 2. "Some incentives are required, so that the customer who is not able to afford a car can come in and migrate to a four-wheeler from a two-wheeler." Hatchback sales comprised 40 per cent of Maruti Suzuki's total car sales in 2024. R.C. Bhargava, the company's chairman, told india today that small car sales were upbeat until 2018. "But now a large segment of the car market isn't growing. Overall growth of the auto sector happens only when all