Distressing link between unsafe water & plastic pollution: Informal workforce tackling crises disincentivised
Unsafe public water leading Indians to rely on bottled water, which contains nano-plastics.
Waste pickers, crucial to recycling efforts, are marginalised by modern waste management systems.
The cycle of pollution continues as untreated wastewater returns to the environment.
India is facing a drinking water crisis. This time, not in some neglected corner, but in cities that proudly wear their cleanliness crowns. Places that have topped national rankings year after year are now explaining why the people in their areas are falling ill after drinking water.
When public drinking water becomes unsafe or unreliable, citizens respond by buying packaged drinking water. Bottles arrive as saviours: Sealed and branded. What they don’t say on the label is that bottled water in India has been found to contain nano-plastics. But as they say — ignorance is bliss!
Once the water is consumed, what remains is the bottle. India generates around 62 million tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, which includes 9.3 million tonnes of plastic waste. PET bottles, which are used for packaging of beverages, food and personal care, forms around 13 per cent of this plastic waste. While official statistics claim a 95 per cent collection rate of the country, the study published in the journal Nature in 2024 estimates actual collection at only 81 per cent. The rest quietly escapes into waterbodies or soil.
This is where the country’s unrecognised environmentalists — the waste pickers — step in. Informal, underpaid and largely invisible, they recover an estimated 40 per cent of recyclable waste in Indian cities. PET bottles are recycled not because of cutting-edge systems, but because waste pickers are paid a few rupees for them. And yet, these workers remain absent from the sustainability narrative.
Surat offers a cautionary tale. When the city pioneered the door-to-door waste collection, it was home to nearly 3,500 waste pickers who recovered recyclables from community containers, streets and landfill sites. A dissertation study conducted in 2023 highlighted how waste pickers got left out as the city pioneered modernisation and privatisation of its solid waste management systems or abide by the central policy guidelines.
Waste pickers reported a sharp decline in earnings, ranging from 50-70 per cent. One waste picker recalled earning Rs 1,000–1,200 a day when community bins existed. Now, Rs 500 is considered a good day.
The study also found that nearly 70 per cent of waste pickers transitioned into housekeeping, domestic work or, in a few cases, contractual waste collection. The unintended consequences of modernisation were borne disproportionately by the marginalised waste pickers.
But even if inclusive recycling is adopted, it releases wastewater and microplastics. So, for the reduction of plastic waste, experts advocate “reuse”. Reuse, however, is also not a magic bullet. When implemented without social safeguards, reuse can displace waste pickers by reducing access to recyclables. To avoid packaged water, carrying your own bottles and refilling them requires safe public drinking water. Reuse also requires washing and sanitising bottles, which generates wastewater.
And here again lies the next invisible workforce. A December 2025 Standing Committee report on Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation noted that India’s urban areas generate nearly 48,000 million litres per day of sewage. Installed treatment capacity covers only about 62 per cent, while actual utilisation drops to nearly 56 per cent. In effect, a significant share of urban wastewater remains inadequately treated.
Wastewater systems in India are often handled by informal sanitation workers, many working without protective gear. Deaths during sewer and septic tank work are reported with alarming regularity. Sustainability, once again, appears to be built on bodies society chooses not to see.
So, when wastewater is inadequately treated, it returns to rivers, groundwater, agriculture and, eventually, back into our homes. And thus, the cycle closes neatly to polluted water.
Our sustainability is not a lack of missions, slogans or rankings. It is not seeing the full cycle of water, waste, labour and health as an interconnected system. Until waste pickers and sanitation workers are treated as essential in the infrastructure, we will keep winning the cleanliness awards while drinking water that makes us sick.
Dixita Pariaker is lead, development research, Vikas Centre for Development. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.